Quick Update Post!

Hello? Anyone there? I've been slacking again - life got busy, work got busy, and there was beer to drink and football games to watch. Here's what's been up lately...

1. It was Oktoberfest time in KW, which meant lots of friends, beer, and guys dressed like this...

2. It was FINALLY time to celebrate Lee's 25th birthday, which meant an MSU game and the COLTS vs BRONCOS game! Yep, you can be jealous. It was the best day ever. I had to flex some pride for Luck!

3. Yeah - this happened. It snowed. In October. Just like when I was a kid. This hasn't helped my "being on track" thing. It's VERY cold at 5am when I head to the gym, which makes it very easy not to go and to stay in our nice warm bed! Granted, the snow didn't stay, but it's still cold.

4. I've been doing my own thing at the gym lately, it's nice, but I miss having a routine. I snapped this on Saturday morning when I trucked to the gym in the rain and worked out against my will. At least I went, right?

5. I started running again!! Something provoked me and I decided that I had had enough of the no-cardio business. I'm a runner at heart, and if I want to run this winter, I better start getting my lungs used to the cold now! I was surprised at how easily it cam back to me after doing nothing for a month.

6. It's soup season!! Hopefully once life slows down a bit (does that ever happen?), I'll have a time to post a bunch of new soup recipes, which I could live off of at this time of year.

That pretty much sums up what's been happening lately! What's more important is what's coming up. I have a bit of a plan in mind that I might as well share now, since who knows when I'll get around to writing again. 

1. I'm going to try Nikki Sharp's 5 Day Detox starting on Sunday. I normally don't really believe in detoxes, but this one is different. It's more or less just 5 days of super super clean eating. Since my diet has been all over the place lately, I hope it's a good kick start that will get me back on track!

2. I'm going to do a squat challenge for November! For the first 2 weeks it's 50 (body weight) squats a day, and the last two weeks is 100 a day. It doesn't seem like much, but I'm hoping I'll see a bit of change! Better than growing a stache, right? This idea came from @lifegain on IG.

3. I'm starting BODY EARNED again!! I'm so excited about this. I've been lost without this program. My plan is to start on Nov. 11, since the detox doesn't recommend heavy exercise. I've been a bit sick lately too, so I want some time to recover and feel great before starting this up again. Since I've had such an easy time skipping workouts lately, I need structure (and James Wilson!) to make me go. 

I'll try to keep this updated better.. but I'm on Intagram @balancingclean too, which I update almost daily. 

How has your routine been now that it's getting colder?
Have you ever done a detox?

Sweet Treats!

I've been trying really hard to focus on my nutrition lately, especially throughout the week. Unfortunately, I have the biggest sweet tooth ever and it tries constantly to take over my life. I am SO thankful that I can eat Lactose Free Cottage Cheese. President's Choice, you're my hero. 
I've been concocting a bunch of different recipes using it so at night I can have some protein at the same time as something sweet. It's been helping me stay more on track during the day knowing that I get something delicious before bed. 
As soon as I open up the container of cottage cheese, I immediately throw all of it in my nutribullet to blend it until it has the consistency of yogurt. Don't be fooled though, it does not taste like yogurt. 
Here are a few different ways I use the cottage cheese. These can all be modified to taste - more cocoa, more mint, less PB (yeah, right), so don't be scared to test it a few times!
I sometimes like to make it right after dinner and pop it in the freezer. Because it's cottage cheese, you have to take it out and stir it up a few times - don't let it freeze solid! It's also fine right from the fridge :)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip "Ice Cream"

- desired amount of cottage cheese
- 2 tbsp PB2 or 1 tbsp peanut butter
- tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 packet sweetener
- chocolate chips
optional: small scoop (about a tbsp) of vanilla protein
optional: microwave the chocolate chips with some peanut butter to get a delicious drizzle!



Mint Chocolate Chip "Ice Cream"

-desired amount of cottage cheese
-1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla protein
- 1 packet sweetener
- mint extract to taste
- chocolate chips




Maple Walnut "Ice Cream"

- desired amount of cottage cheese
- tbsp maple syrup (if using no sugar added, add some sweetener)
- tbsp vanilla protein
- small amount maple extract
- walnuts

Peach Crisp with Vanilla Mousse 

I got this recipe from @thebrokehealthnut on IG. Very much worth a follow!

- 1 diced peach, sprinkle with cinnamon and microwave 30 seconds
in another bowl mix:
- 2 tbsp oats
- 1 tbsp oat flour
- cinnamon
- 1/2 - 1 tbsp maple syrup

Put the mixture over the peaches and microwave for another 45-60 seconds. 

I topped mine with my vanilla mousse (LFCC, vanilla protein, vanilla, sweetener)

What are your go-to healthy treats?

WIAW... Lately (New recipe included!)

This is going to be a quick post with some of my eats lately! I've been super busy at work and prepping for my test tomorrow, so this is a photo dump of all the stuff I've been uploading to instagram and not here... whoops!

 Steak (one of the best ever) and a VERY spicy stirfry.

Fajitas chez mom and dad's. They invited us over for dinner, but I ended up cooking because they were busy with the new bar outside!

Friday night dinner thanks again to Lee - homemade chicken burgers! BBQ season never dies.

Apple pumpkin cupcake with cottage cheese frosting. Yes, that happened. Yes, I'll post the recipe, one day.

Spaghetti squash with ground chicken and vegetable tomato sauce - topped with a bit of LF cheese :)

Dinner last night! Eggs, squirrely bread and KALE! I've never liked kale much, but I LOVED this!

Sauteed Kale:

Add a bit of olive oil and fresh garlic to a pan to heat up. Then add about a 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 4-5 cups of chopped kale, a bit of soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Saute until it's done (based on your preferences)!

And my new obsession - Mint Chocolate "Ice Cream". To die for. 

A Little Rant and a Recipe

I should be studying right now. I'm sitting in a study room, with all my books out, prepared to review my notes for my stats (ew) test (ew) next week. But I can't concentrate. All I can think about it what I'd rather be doing - in this case, baking. All I want to do with my life is bake delicious and healthy things, and I guess cook things too, and share them. Last night, instead of reviewing for today's lecture, guess what I did? I baked. And do you know what? I was happy to do that. I want everyone to try these pumpkin spice muffins, so I made them to bring to work. To give to Lee's friend. To bring to my parents. 

So now today, sitting in class I started thinking that all I want to do is quit my job and bake for a living. It doesn't help that works sucks so badly right now that I feel like I'm started to look as defeated as I am. To the point that today in tutorial my TA was asking if we understood whatever we had just reviewed, and then looked at me and whispered "are you okay??". Maybe I should have brushed my hair. 

Anyway, I digress. Right now I just feel like I have the Grand Canyon in between what I'm doing, and what I love to do. I mean, I get to do what I love every morning at some ungodly hour when I go to the gym, and I get to cook and bake on (most) Sundays, but then I have to go to work. My brother likes to talk as if this is some no-brainer that I should just do what I love, but unfortunately, I'm very qualified for the job that I have, and very unqualified to make any sort of living in the kitchen. Frustrating, right? 

Times like this my instinct tells me to run, or bike. Cardio is out of the question right now though since I'm still experimenting. Anyway, here's a recipe. 

Shredded Chicken Soup

I'm a lover of soups. Only chunky soups though, other than potato leek soup, pureed soups make me kind of sick. Up until I was about 18, I thought that chicken noodle soup typically came with beef meatballs in it. I have my Dutch background to thank for that, but regardless, it has always been my favourite soup. Unfortunately, the nutritional value of it is pretty minimal, so this past weekend I decided to make a healthier version of it to satisfy the delusional Dutch girl in me. 

First throw 3 chicken breasts into the crockpot with 2 cups of chicken broth, fresh pepper and some sage. Let this cook on high until the chicken can be easily shredded, about 2-3 hours. You want it to look like this:

While that's cooking, chop up your veggies. For this I used:

onion

carrots

zucchini

broccoli

corn

sweet potato

Add a bit of EVOO to a big pan with the onion and brown slightly. Then add the rest of the veggies and cook until soft:

Then add:
8-10 cups of chicken broth (I also used one cup of beef broth, just for fun) - I can't remember the exact number of cups that I added (stupid draft was deleted, again), but this is really to your preference. 
1-2 tbsp sage 
1-2 tbsp Maggie (this is a Dutch seasoning, and it doesn't count as clean, but I can't let it go. You could replace with a low sodium soy sauce)
fresh pepper to taste
the chicken and whatever broth is left with it. 

Let this sit on low heat to soak up the flavours. I kept trying mine and added more pepper/sage/maggie as needed. That's the fun thing about soups, they're super easy to adjust to your tastes! 

I've made this with chicken meatballs as well, and that's also fantastic. I'll post that recipe too next time I make it (and measure what I do). Can we all just take a minute to appreciate the amazing "countertop" in my house? I can't wait until I have my own beautiful kitchen. 

What's your favourite soup?
Do you have any advice for me?

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies!

Happy October! Perfect day for another fall themed recipe :)
I can thank fit2fat2fit for these beauties! I didn't even change the recipe THAT much. 

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/3 sweetener

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp maple extract

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup no sugar added maple syrup

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in one, then mix and add the chocolate chips. I just mixed this by hand. 

Make cookie balls with 1 tbsp of dough and press down sightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes on parchment paper. Cool on a wire rake. 

These may not have lasted longer than a day. Whoops. I shared though!