Beans, beans, beans

Are all of you familiar with the bean brownie craze?  Since I first had them I can't stop trying to sneak beans into all sorts of other desserts to try to up the health factor.  I've had a few failures, but I didn't let that stop me. 

My first success came when I tried a variation on the pumpkin spice muffins.  That recipe calls for a box of yellow cake mix, a can of pumpkin puree and water.  That's it.  Easy peasy and so delicious.  The mood struck where I was craving something sweet yet healthy, and I found myself without a can of pumpkin, wondering what I could use as a substitute.  I was pleasantly surprised with what I came up with:

Apple Spice Muffins

1 box yellow cake mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1-2 tsp of cinnamon)
1 1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 c chickpeas
1 c water

Preheat oven to 350.
Puree chickpeas in food processor with water for 2 minutes.  Add in applesauce and puree for an additional minute.  
In a large bowl combine cake mix and applesauce mixture.  Stir for two minutes. 
Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

These were delicious and my kids devoured them.  Then it got me thinking about how I could use one with a chocolate cake mix.  Here's my twist:

Chocolate Banana Muffins

1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food Cake as it's what I had on hand)
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c black beans
1 c water
2-3 over ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350.
Puree black beans in food processor with water for 2 minutes.  Add in applesauce and puree for an additional minute.
In a large bowl combine cake mix and applesauce mixture.  Stir for two minutes.
Mash bananas and incorporate into the batter.
Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I loved these even more than the apple spice muffins.  Most likely because they were chocolate!  Mmmmm.  What I enjoy most about these recipes is how you can easily adapt it to your tastes.  Don't like banana's?  Just add 1 c more applesauce.  Or throw in some chocolate chips, or coconut.  I added 1/2 c oats and some ground flax to a batch with great results too.  It's virtually fool proof. 

Enjoy and let me know what variations you come up with <3

D.

Healthy desserts. Yup, sounds like an oxymoron to me too.

I have an awful sweet tooth.  Like bad.  Seriously.  I pine away all week long waiting to sink my teeth into something gooey, sugary and sweet first thing on Saturday mornings when I wake up for my free day.  I call it my pre-breakfast breakfast.   The requirements are, but aren't limited to, chocolate, icing, containing any form of peanuts, and preferably something baked with loads of sugar that will leave me licking my fingers.  I'll search all week long for a great new recipe to satisfy my sugary urges, saving every tantalising link as I try to narrow it down. 

While I was on Pinterest searching for delectable recipes that fulfilled above mentioned requirements, I came across one for vegan cookie dough dip using chickpeas.  Mildly curious, I scanned the list of ingredients and a light bulb went off.  If it's healthy that means I can eat more of it and not feel guilty!  Yummy desserts without all the remorse or the urge to run 15k to work it off?!  Mind blown!


Cookie Dough Dip

The first Cookie Dough Dip I made called for sugar and coconut oil, and while it was good, I didn't like the fact that it had all of that in it.  Come on, where's the guilt free part?  Then I came across this little gem:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/09/27/new-recipe-sugar-free-cookie-dough-dip/

Katie's site has quickly become one of my favorites for healthy, low-cal recipes!  I love that she used dates to give the dip it's sweetness instead of actual sugar.  I'm a huge fan of dates so it was a win/win.  I will add though that mine did not turn out as light in color as hers. The dates caused mine to look more like a chocolate version.  Either way it still tasted delicious!


Black Bean Brownies

You read correctly.  Black Bean Brownies.  Say whaaaaaaaat?!  Three ingredients: 1 can of black beans, 1 box of brownie mix, and water.  That's it!  Simple, easy, and surprisingly so moist and delicious!  They don't taste as sweet as their usual oil and egg counterparts, but still gives you that guilty pleasure of eating something fudgey and chocolaty without the actual guilt.  Oh man, I'm going to be making these ones a lot!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/06/black-bean-brownies-2-pts.html

Pumpkin Cupcakes

And lastly, my favorite one of them all, pumpkin cupcakes.  Like the above recipe, this one is also from skinnytaste.com and has minimal ingredients: 1 can of pumpkin puree, 1 box of yellow cake mix, water, and pumpkin pie spice.  I am a huge fan of pumpkin and love to eat it all year long.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin tea, pumpkin dip with apple slices, pumpkin blizzards, pumpkin soup.  I could honestly keep going.  And these are only 1 Weight Watcher point each.  ONE!  Thank-you Universe!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-pumpkin-spiced.html

I will add that I made mine in a mini-muffin tin and didn't use liners.  As long as the tin is greased or sprayed they'll come out fine. 

If you try any of these gems let me know how they turn out and what you think.  Happy eating.

My First Race

Yesterday I ran my first race ever.  Late last year I decided that I was going to enter my first half-marathon in 2012 and have been training hard for it since.  That race isn't until May, but it only hit me about a month ago that I should try my hand at a few smaller races to get the feel and vibe of what it would be like to race with other people.  I went onto interiorrunning.ca and saw that there was the Lakeside Fun Run 5k coming up within a few weeks.  Perfect, sign me up!

A week before the race I must've looked at the pamphlet and re-read it over and over and over again at least 20 times.  I was convinced I was either going to sleep in (which is almost impossible with three children awake everyday at 7 a.m. or earlier), miss the sign-in time, or end up running down the wrong streets.  I was nervous, but excited.  How would I compare?  I've only ever ran against myself, trying each week to achieve new personal records.  As long as I did my best and gave it my all I'd be happy.

Race morning came.  I had drank far too much wine and had gotten much too little sleep the night before, but we had planned to have friends over for a poker party well before my plans to race.  I knew it'd be okay, it was only 5k.  Small beans to someone who had ran 18.5 k (my longest distance yet) a week before.  I re-hydrated, read the pamphlet another three times, checked the clock every 2 minutes, and went over all the items in my gym bag repeatedly.  Okay, lets do this!

The Lakeside Resort was abuzz, filled with runners of all ages, shapes, and sizes.  Some stretching off to the side, most in small groups socialising, some parents planning on running with kids in strollers (brave, or crazy, I'll let you decide.), ones in crazy outfits (one guy was wearing orange and black tiger striped biker shorts with matching spandex arm warmers.  I wish I could've gotten a picture!), and the nervous newbs like myself. 

I sign in well ahead of the cut off time (phew, now all that's left is to make sure I go down the right streets), and get my husband to double check that my number is pinned on straight.  I've got a number!!!  I take a lot of photo's with said number, pointing at it like a geek.  If there were doubts as to whether or not this was my first race, I just alleviated any uncertainty.  And I took many pictures with my children who are so excited to see me race. 

We head outside and line up as the time draws near.  I recognize a few people from Peach City Runners, some from the track, and a few other acquaintances.  I put myself a bit near the front, but not too far because I'm not crazy fast like tiger-stripe guy (come on, he's got to be if he's bold enough to wear an outfit like that!), and away we go.  I pace myself, hearing the words of my Uncle in my head, reminding me not to go all out and to leave myself with enough stamina for the end.  People pass me, but I don't let it worry me.  It wasn't until I was almost halfway that I looked at my Nike GPS ap and saw that my pace was much too slow if I wanted to finish with a decent time.  What have I done?!  Ugh, mental note made to check that thing earlier next time.  I pick it up and start passing others.  I look up when I hear honking and see my friend Nicole waving and cheering me on!  You know you have awesome friends when...

On the route back, 1km away from the finish line, I hear "Go DJ Dawny Dawnnnnnnn!" yelled from a parked vehicle, only to see my friends Jamie and Janice shouting cheers at me.  It couldn't have come at a better time, what an amazing feeling!  I pick it up even more, pass a few others, see that finish line and book it.  I choke back tears as I cross the line, overwhelmed with emotion.  I was so unbelievably proud of myself and what I had just accomplished.  I scan the crowd searching for my family and see them jumping up and down, waving and cheering.  They rush over to give me hugs and congratulate me.  Yup, there's those tears I had been holding back.     I'm certain having my family there to cheer me on was my biggest motivator. It didn't matter how fast I went, or how good my time was, seeing their smiling faces at the end as I crossed the line was by far the best feeling in the world!

I find out my time was 24:26.  Not bad, not my best, but still not bad.  We go back inside for a few snacks.  The kids are restless so we decide to skip the awards and leave. 

It wasn't until I was updating my status on facebook, broadcasting proudly to the world what I had just accomplished, when a friend asked me why I didn't stay for the awards?  I had won 3rd place for my age category and there was a medal waiting for me.  I was completely dumbfounded.  Agast.  Shocked.  Stunned.  I what?!  How?  WHAT?!

A medal on my first race, how completely unexpected.  Obviously I wore it all day.  My kids took turns wearing it, proudly telling all their friends, and anyone that would listen, that their mom won a medal.  That was a great mommy moment right there.  And for future races, I have absolutely no expectations on winning anything else.  I'll give it all I've got and take absolute delight in seeing the beautiful faces of my loved ones at the end.  That gave me more joy than any medal could.

My Weight Loss Journey

A lot of you may not know that I was overweight from 19-26 years of age. So I've been searching high and low for a really good "before" picture to use.  And I wasn't just a little overweight, at one point I was 100 lbs more than what I am now.  To truly think about it is mind boggling.  That's like an entire other (albeit, extremely small) person! 

(The picture on the left cracks me up! lol. 

It was while I was pregnant with Ava,

hence the finger puppets.)

I don't know how a person gets to that point.  Well I do.  Laziness and not paying attention to your diet.  It wasn't until after I had my first child that I actually had the drive and determination to do something about it. 

A close friend of mine had gone to Weight Watchers and had great success.  She gave me the "tools" and I ran with it.  I scoured for Weight Watcher's information online, taught myself how to count points (every food is given a point based on its nutritional information, and based on your weight you're only allowed so many points per day), and kept a food journal for the first two weeks.  Hmmm, I wonder if I still have that kicking around somewhere?  It'd be interesting to go back and look through.  Anyways, I lost 60 lbs in 6 or 7 months.  And that was with having a "cheat day" once a week so I could still have all of those sweets and savoury foods that I still craved.  I was smaller than I had even been in high school.  What an amazing feeling!

See, I don't think of Weight Watchers as a "diet," rather it teaches you to become more aware of what you're putting into your body.  It teaches you portion control, and instills healthy eating habits. 

I've had to lose a large amount of weight not once, but three times.  With my subsequent two pregnancies I looked at it as free reign to eat absolutely anything I wanted.  And ended up gaining all of that weight back and then some.  Awful, I know.  And even more awful to work off!   I lost 80 lbs after I had Hudson, and am currently 90 lbs lighter since I had Everett. 

Mind you, it's been almost 2 1/2 years since I had him, and I found this weight came off in stages.  I got comfortable in certain phases and stayed there.  It wasn't until I started running that I discovered the true potential of this post baby body of mine.

A few people have made the comment that they think that I'm now too skinny.  But that mainly comes from the ones who only knew me in my fat days from 10 years ago.  It's a shock even for me to see old pictures of myself compared to the way I am now.  But I am perfectly happy with my body, a feat that every woman knows is never easy to attain, am fit and healthy with a good BMI (I didn't starve myself to get here), and I worked damn hard for this!  Do you know how difficult it is to get a 6 pack after having not only 1 child, but 3?!   Not only that, but now I look at myself as an athlete.  I run anywhere from 30-50 km / week.  I do strength training another 3-4 times a week.  I've got big running aspirations, with a goal of two half marathons this year, and a few other races in between. 

Any of you who truly know me know that I have a serious food obsession, hence the weight gain to begin with, and my extensive planning and prep for "free days."  Now I"m enjoying the freedom of not having to be so strict, giving my body the fuel it needs to become faster and stronger.  I am by no means a trained professional, but wanted to share my weight loss story since I've come so far from where I used to be.

Sugarless, flour less, egg less cookies?!

During one of my more recent hours spent scouring pinterest.com I came across a recipe that really piqued my curiosity.  Sugarless, flour less, egg less oatmeal cookies.  Really, could there be such a thing, and still taste good?  I decided to give them a try even though I had already made up my mind that they were going to turn into some sort of disaster.  I'd post a link to the recipe, but it wasn't from an actual website.  Someone had made it into a pin themselves. 

Side note:  if you haven't gone onto pinterest yet, you must!  It's a giant pin board where you discover recipes, fashion, art, architecture, all things geeky, you name it, and pin it on your own boards.  A-ma-zing!

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups of oats
2-3 super ripened bananas 
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Handful of craisins to taste
And a few dashes of cinnamon

Throw everything together, mix it up pretty well, throw it on a baking sheet at 350 for 35 minutes and voila! It's great and super healthy for you!

I absolutely love how versatile this recipe is.  I used raisins instead of dried cranberries and added some flax seed and wheat bran; but you could throw in any kind of nuts, allspice, or nutmeg, or use fresh ginger, or grated orange peel, the possibilities are endless.

I was convinced that when I opened the oven door to check on them I would find one big goopy mess, but was pleasantly surprised to see they kept their shape.  My kids devoured a few after breakfast, and the only negative comment came from my oldest about how she didn't like them.  She's not used to a no sugar cookie, but my boys loved them and have been asking for more all day.  This is something that even I don't feel guilty indulging in ; )  

       

Jillian Michaels kicked my a$$!

As many of you know I've been doing Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred" workout video for quite a while.  It's has 3 different 20 minute video's with increasing difficulty that promises to get you "shredded" in 30 days.  That is, if you do the video every single day for 30 days.  I tried following that rule once after I had my second child.  After day 8 I couldn't handle listening to her anymore, saying the same things over and over again, so I just stopped doing it altogether.  Looking back, I probably wasn't in the right mindset either to be that committed.

This time round I do the video on my between days with running, or on short running days as a way to strength train.  I added in the "6 Week 6 Pack" for an added kick and to mix it up a bit so it's not so monotonous.  And while it was new and worked different muscles, I wasn't as hooked on it as the "30 Day Shred."  So the hunt began.

There's a plethora of other Jillian video's out there, and it was only after trying a few others that I discovered my new favorite.  The "Extreme Shed and Shred."  It has 2 different levels, and the workouts are a bit longer; Level 1 being 42 minutes and Level 2 being 53 (this includes warm up and cool down stretching). 

After doing Level 1 I wasn't "wowed."  It wasn't as challenging as I was used to and thought, "meh, there's another one I won't use again."  But when I woke up the next day I was sore.  Not to the point where I couldn't move, but that video must've done something.  So I plunked in level 2 to give it a try and thought I was going to die!  Holy cow!  The hardest for me were the Plank Jack Push-Ups.  I want to sweat and curse her name just thinking about them.  And the Single Leg Mountain Climbers?!  My quads were killing me afterwards.  I couldn't believe the difference between Level 1 and Level 2.  The next day I could feel the aftermath all over my body.  My abs hurt, my triceps hurt, my quads hurt, even my butt hurt!  This one's gonna be on repeat for a while until I've mastered it too.  I highly recommend it to all the other Jillian addicts out there!  It's a bit longer of a workout, but definitely worth it!

The Beginning

So here I am starting a blog about running.  If you had asked me a year ago what I would write a blog about, running would've been one of the last things to come to mind. 

My passion for running happened by chance.  I had a few months to prepare for a 3 minute belly dance audition and was worried about how I'd be able to dance continuously for that long.  I knew I had to work on my endurance and running seemed like the simplest way to do that. 

I would walk my daughter to school and run the long way home.  It was only for 8 minutes and I did it 3 times a week.  I hated it!  Seriously hated it!  I was winded and sweaty and couldn't understand why people would choose to do this willingly.  But I pushed on.  I'd go for longer.  11 minutes, 12, 13, 15.  Then I discovered mapmyrun.com and saw that I was doing 2.5 km!!  I was amazed, I had no idea I could run that far (Haha, it's funny looking back now that I used to think 2.5k was far).  It motivated me to see just where this running thing would take me. 

My belly dance audition came and went and still I found myself pounding the pavement 3 times a week.  Running was quickly becoming a very large part of my life.  I would stare transfixed in the mirror, mesmerized with how quickly my body was changing and responding to it.  In awe of ab muscles that I never knew I had or ever could have, especially after 3 children.  I also have to thank Jillian Michaels and her 30 Day Shred for helping in that area ; )

With winter fast approaching I was saddened by the thought of hanging up my runners for the season, especially when I was just starting to really get into this thing.  I wouldn't run out in the cold (I'm a huge baby when it comes to the cold.), and I couldn't justify spending money on a gym membership just to use a treadmill.  Then my father-in-law told me about the indoor track.  It was as if the clouds parted and the song of a million angels filled my ears!  A what?!  And it's free?!   Oh thank you sweet baby Jesus! 

So that's where I've spent these last few months.  My husband comes home from work, I give him a quick kiss and tell him I'm off to the track.  I bring my daughter at times and she tells me how she did 50 laps.  "Oh really?!," I say.  I'll sneak off here and there throughout the week, forcing myself to go even though the couch is looking extra inviting at the moment and I can faintly hear my slippers calling my name.  What they say is true, the hardest step is the one out the door. 

And for someone who started out saying she wasn't going to turn into one of those "crazy marathon people," I actually signed up for my first half marathon.  It's on May 20th here in Penticton and I'm so excited, and maybe a teeny bit nervous.  I made a New Years Resolution (my first in 3 years) to run two half's this year.  I'm now on the hunt for another.  Suggestions are gladly welcomed : )

My longest run so far is 17.5 km.  I did it yesterday in 1:23:53 with an average of 4'48/km.  I was so excited that my long run for the week was under 5min/km.  See, now it's little things like that that get me excited.  Well that and my new gym bag that came today.  It's so awesome!