I will never be done with cupcakes, ever. I love love love them...and that's part of my problem.
I'm not talking about anyone else here (ahem, husband) but after I lost ALL the baby weight from Zeke I completely lost my motivation. I started eating whatever and not working out and ended up gaining back a few more pounds then I'd care to admit (currently). I told myself I was going to lose weight during the holidays and HAHAHHAHA that didn't happen!
Here's how I found my motivation. I was feeling fat and blah (what's new) and started thinking of the women I know who are fit. Read: NOT skinny but fit, in shape. I know plenty of unhealthy skinny people and that's not what I want. I do not want to be a skinnier version of fat me, I want to be a fit new person. So, I thought about all the women I know who are in shape and what's the common denominator? Eating clean. I decided to pick up a copy of Tosca Reno's book "The Eat Clean Diet" and by the time I was done reading it, I understood. Everything I eat has to do something for my body and if it doesn't, it doesn't belong in my mouth.
What you look like on the outside is 80% due to what you eat, 10% is exercise and 10% is genes. I got that from her book and it has stuck like glue! I am not saying we are doing this full throttle for the rest of our lives, committing to that is too overwhelming. We are taking this one day at a time. I mean, we already feed Zeke 98% clean so why not just push the good eating to mom and dad. Youu'd think we would have done it already, right?!
Since this is not a diet or a resolution for the new year we began our journey on December 30th. It has been 3 weeks of reading, learning and cooking! We eat so much food it's ridiculous, except now it's not so much eating as fueling our bodies. Please remember we are still fat but, we're working on it!
Today I decided to make our own protein bars! I love Clif builder bars but, they are about $2 each and I am entirely too cheap to pay for them very often. So here I went...
Does this look like a lot of ingredients...? Okay, it kind of is but I had all of it in my house. The only thing I didn't picture is yogurt cheese (see next).
To make yogurt cheese, you take a big container of lowfat plain yogurt and line a fine mesh sieve with 4-5 layers of cheesecloth. Dump the yogurt in the sieve and put it over a bowl, then let it drain overnight.
This is what it should look like.
Tastes just like cream cheese =)
Mix all the dry ingredients together...
Then all the wet ingredients. Mix the wet into the dry with oiled hands and load it into a big pan.
Bake 15 minutes then cool and cut into bars or squares ;)
Yes, that is chocolate! To me this is more like a protein cookie and I plan on eating one everyday.
Adapted from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook...
Ingredients
1 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup Sucanat
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 1/2 cups yogurt cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions
Combine protein powder, flour, oats, oat bran, flax seed, wheat germ, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and agave nectar in large mixing bowl. Stir in dark chocolate chunks. In another bowl combine yogurt, oils, and vanilla. Mix well and add to dry ingredients. Combine well - best to use clean dry hands.
Place mixture in 9 X 13 pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes at 375. Allow to cool and cut into bars. Place on cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes.
Here's my sweetheart sharing baby carrots with me.
Join us on our journey...won't you?
