Chocolate Protein Cake Pops

Cake pops are all the yummy rage right now and my kids love them...but my waist line does not! A couple weeks ago we had a wonderful birthday celebration for my 4 year old and I went overboard and made a cake and yes, cake pops too! ( You can see pictures of both creations here: (Mariah Allen Photography) When the party ended, I was left with a sugar high and I actually felt ill for a couple days from all the sugar I had ingested! I try to stay away from refined sugars as much as I can, so I don't keep any sweets in the house except for some decadent dark chocolate here and there. It's been about 2 years now since I adopted the "Eat Clean" lifestyle which I've talked about on this blog. Its been challenging at times and yes I've failed miserably some days, but I always keep trying to apply the principles I've learned! When life gets crazy and I haven't planned ahead is when I get off track, reaching for the quickest option that isn't always the healthiest.

When I won a signed copy of Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet book a few years ago, I started incorporating the eat clean principles into my daily routine. I loved the change I felt in my whole body, so I've challenged myself to stay the course since then. Along the way, I met Pam Sampson, a personal trainer and figure competitor that opened a training facility back home called Flex Fitness. Before I moved away, I was able to participate in her group fitness class and she really got me on fire about health, nutrition and fitness! Even though I don't live near her anymore, she still inspires me from afar (Facebook) and is really my closest (celebrity) inspiration and the epitome of physique and beauty from the inside out! I intro this cake pop recipe with that because everytime I step into the gym or the kitchen,  I try really hard to adhere to the princples I've learned to see results....its a work in progress.

Today I was planning on making a plethora of protein options to eat during the week that were quick to grab, eat on the go, or take with me to the gym for a pre or post workout snack! Most of the recipes I have are for protein bars and I thought I should try to make them into cake pops instead! Plus, I was craving baked goods, so I thought I would give it a shot! These DO include protein powder, which I would leave out and replace with just a "clean" flour for my girls, but since they are for me I used the protein powder. I don't claim to know everything about eating clean, its a learning/researching process as I go, but I have found different views on where you should be getting your protein from. Really a whole other subject, but one that I am going to keep researching. In the meantime, I am using protein powder, but always try if I can to get it from more natural sources if I am home to cook!

So here they are, Chocolate Protein Cake Pops! Yummy & delicious!

Ingredients

-1 cup Whole Grain Barley Flour
-4 Egg Whites
-1 Whole Egg
-1 tsp Stevia-
-2 scoops Chocolate Whey Protein Powder
-1 tsp Baking Cocoa
-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
-1/4 c water
-1 tbsp coconut milk
-2 tbsp applesauce or coconut oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients together, then add wet ingredients and blend. Use tablespoon to measure and pour batter into cake pop pan, fill to top and then add about 1/2 tsp more.

Bake 15-18 minutes. 17 mins seemed perfect! Cool in your cake pop pan for 3 mins before removing from pan.

*If you don't have barley flour, you can substitute it with oat flour. If you don't have oat flour, grind up some whole oats and you have oat flour!

*Remember to refrigerate these or they will go bad quickly!

Makes approximately 16 cake pops.

Approximate Nutrition

Calories: 96
Fat: 1.4 grams
Carbs: 12 grams
Protein: 10 grams

This recipe was  based off of :Source: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/video-jamie-eason-chocolate-protein-bars.htm

Items I used for this recipe:

Simple~Vintage Toddler Ornaments

Do you have a separate tree for your kids to decorate that you don't care how it looks? Well, I did up until last year when we moved and the fake trees just wouldn't fit in our already stuffed u-haul. I decided to go back to a real tree this year with the loss of the artificial ones. Sad, but almost glad I did. I am enjoying the natural beauty of a real tree. Having two little kids, I was a bit stressed about all the ornaments ending up on the tree that didn't match my "perfectly" decorated tree. Yes, I am one of those people! I love the random Charlie Brown trees that my friends seem so at peace with, but I like them in their house! It also made me feel a bit sad for my 2 and 3 year old that their tree wasn't personalized and looked maybe like the one at Target! So, I decided to make a tradition to let the kids make some of their own "classy~vintage" ornaments! They absolutely loved it and admire their creation every time they walk by the tree!

Things you need:

• 1 bottle of white acrylic paint
• 2 unfinished birdhouse ornaments
• 1 bottle of red glitter acrylic paint
• 2 small paint brushes
• washable bowls for paint
• table cloth or newspapers
• craft bibs for your kids

Let the fun begin! I had my kids paint the white coat before nap time and then by the time they woke from their naps it was dry and then they applied the red glitter paint when they woke up! The glitter paint was great because they could get it everywhere and it still looked good! I then painted the year on the back and their name on the front. Then I put a coat of clear acrylic spray paint on them. 

If you want the colors to match your tree, just pick out the acrylic paint to match your tree decor! My girls even put craisins in the birdhouse for the birdies to have something to eat! It was there idea!

Here is a quick look at the finished craft.

Green Power Smoothie

I will be going GREEN today!! Yup, I am going to be drinking this instead of eating my kids Halloween candy! 

Smoothies are a great way for me to get a huge amount of nutrients quickly! I have really been trying to eat more Kale but it seems to go bad so fast before I can finish it, so I decided to try something else. Now when I buy Kale, I de-stem it and divide it up by approximately 2 cups per bag and put it in ziploc freezer bags and pop it in the freezer! Its not only great for making green power smoothies, but a great easy way to add to dishes and recipes.  You can also roll it with a pin roller after its frozen to break it up and then sprinkle on top of whatever dish your making. (Hint: Its way easier than chopping it up!)

Okay, so before you decide that candy sounds way better than this green stuff looks, here are some hints to making it better! I don't know why but I've tried this smoothie both ways (frozen and non frozen fruits and veggies). For some reason its way better to me when I use frozen produce. If you can't freeze everything at least freeze the kale. 

The other tip is to add another apple or pear if its still to earthy to drink. Or you can add a couple drops of liquid stevia to sweeten it a bit. You should always try it before you add anything additional!

Here are some nutritional and health facts to help you gulp this down!

Kale is very high in vitamins and nutrients, including vitamin K, C and A! Its also high in fiber and sulfur which makes it great for keeping your liver healthy and detoxifying your system! The list could go on as to why you should boost your intake of this leafy green antioxidant vegetable. Fresh lemon and lime juice are known to be anti-inflammatories and can help improve digestion! Raw cranberry juice is full of antioxidants that help fight free radicals in your system. Of course bananas are a great source of potassium and can also help curb overeating. Apples are high in fiber, which fills you up with out the calories! (If you are watching calories eat an apple and forgo the smoothie!) And last but not least flaxseed is very high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids helping reduce bad cholesterol levels.

So there you have it in a nutshell! Go GREEN this Halloween! It's pretty simple and easy! If you have produce about to go bad, cut it up and freeze it into smoothie size measurements to use later! You can use pretty much anything in your smoothies, just google that fruit or veggie to get some great recipes! Don't waste your produce, freeze it and then smoothie it! My girls are loving my smoothie creations too and its a great way to get them eating fruits and veggies they may not choose to eat from their plate!

Happy GREEN Halloween!

Products I use:

R.W. Knudsen Just Cranberry Juice

Eat Clean Whole Wheat Banana Bread

It's a rainy day out here on the East Coast as we all brace against Hurricane Sandy this weekend. This is the first hurricane season I've been through, ever in my life! It's a weird season in both life and weather that I am not used to. To take my mind off things and well the news, I decided to use up some of my frozen banana's to make some lovely banana bread!

Wasting food just makes me cringe, so I freeze everything I can before it goes bad and bananas are one of these items! I am one of those individuals that has such bad gag reflexes that when any brown on my bananas appear, it puts me over the edge. My family loves to eat them perfectly yellow too, so we buy them  every time we go grocery shopping and I just pop them in the freezer when they are good and ripe! (Sometimes I want to gag putting them in the freezer, yup its that bad!) It's so nice to have them on hand on days like this!

My mom always made banana bread growing up, so its become a staple in my house especially in the colder months. However, as I continue to eat cleaner and healthier, I still love to bake yummy goodies!  So I've been in the process of trying out different ingredients to get my perfect loaf of Eat Clean Banana Bread! Baking makes it a bit harder for me to steer away from "the bad" and replace with "the good", but every time I bake I at least try!  I fell off the clean wagon a couple days ago as I found a yummy recipe in my parenting magazine for chocolate chip pumpkin cookie recipe with cream cheese frosting! I set off to make it "cleaner" but it didn't happen that way! Maybe next time, but my family was excited, especially my girls to get frosted cookies!

Back to the banana bread! I have found a couple different versions that I like and will probably always be experimenting for that perfect loaf, but here is the recipe that won the test today!

Here are the ingredients you will need:

Recipe adapted and modified from Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook.

These are some of the products I use when baking eat clean items:

October in the Southeast

Our family is celebrating our first fall season in the southeast this year! I am excited to experience a different season somewhere that is so far away from home and so opposite in climate than where I am from. (Example: Where I live now it was 88 yesterday with extremely high humidity and back home it was 36 and snowing!)

Even though I complained about the snow back home and how the long winters are I think I might miss it! Its like my body is so used to that cold weather this time of year, I find myself putting on pants and sweaters and then arriving outside my house to find that its still HOT where I live now! The locals say it gets cooler, but I haven't felt too chilly more than maybe one evening so far. And that chilly was like a cool summer evening back home in July!

This experience of living so far from home has definitely been exciting and challenging all at the same time. I miss so much about home and more than anything the people, my friends, my safety net of connections, knowing someone that knows someone that is related to so and so. I miss that. Its funny how much you take for granted when your in that place (or job or ___fill in the blank). It makes you appreciate the mundane and common things that you didn't think were too important. The list could go on for me about what I miss.....but I am embracing the new things I am experiencing out here, the connections that are starting to form, my routine and my new normal (as one of my friends told me would start to happen).

We want to make the most of our time here, so for fun last weekend we took the girls to the October festivities that were happening at the local Farm down the road. The girls enjoyed playing in the corn fields and taking a hay ride through the farm to pick pumpkins! A new season brings change, it brings a sense of excitement for a new refreshing start in the next chapter to be written in this life. This is what I love about the change of seasons...even if the seasons feel much warmer or so different.

Of course I had my camera along with me and was able to capture our memories of our first fall experience in the southeast! I absolutely love black and whites, but love the golden colors that came out of the gorgeous fall sunlight on the colored photos too! I had to share both color and black and whites!

Building my business out here is taking time, but its allowing me time to enjoy being a "hobby" photographer. And I have so much yet to learn about photography, so every outing is not only an exploring experience for us, its a time to really slow down with my camera and take in what my children are seeing through my lens. 

The picture above captures her personality so well! She had to be tough and heave that pumpkin all the way back to the wagon. We offered to help, but the age of "I can do it myself" is very present right now! It was a really heavy pumpkin too!

The end to a perfect day! 

Thank you Morris Farms for a great fall experience in the southeast!

©Mariah Allen Photography

www.mariahallenphotography.com

Roasted Vegetables with Protein

Every fall I am more inspired to cook healthy meals for my family because I crave heavy comfort food! During the summer months I just don't enjoy spending that much time in the kitchen, I love being outside enjoying the outdoors and eating simple! When the weather blows its cool air through the trees is when I get excited to prepare and experiment with different entrees and of course baked goods! This fall is no different. One of my favorite meals to cook that is very simple, easy and good for you, is  Roasted Vegetables with Protein. Having adapted an Eat Clean Lifestyle over a year ago now, I am always looking for recipes that include the eating clean principles. I tend to eat more fruit than vegetables throughout my day, so this particular meal helps me increase my vegetable intake in such a flavorful way! I usually cook it on Sunday or Monday and we have it for left overs all week long! 

The beauty of this dish is you can tweak it to your favorite root vegetables, you don't necessarily have to follow my ingredient list exactly. Here is what you will need to start:

• 1 orange pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 spagetti squash
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 zucchini
• 1yellow squash
• 1 can Garbanzo Beans or Chickpeas (protein)
• 1 can of diced spicy or roasted red pepper tomatoes
• 1 can of corn or 1 ear of corn
• a drizzle of olive oil (approx. 1/4 c.)
• Optional: 3/4 c. of grated parmesan & mozzarella cheese 

Other root vegetable options that you can add:

Beets, parsnips, leeks, whole garlic cloves and carrots. 

To begin, set your oven to 350 degree, then start by peeling the sweet potatoes and chopping them into chunks.

Layer sweet potatoes on the bottom of your roasting dish. Save some for the middle layer. If your family doesn't like sweet potatoes, you can always replace them with Yukon Gold potatoes. Remember though sweet potatoes are higher in fiber and have a lower glycemic index. 

More info on that: http://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/the-health-properties-of-sweet-potatoes/

From here you can choose how you layer your veggies! Make sure you use half of the onion in the middle and the other on top to insure the onion is flavoring the whole dish! Chop, dump and pour! Its quick and easy! If you don't like Garbanzo beans, you could always top this dish with grilled chicken at the end!

Now drizzle about a cup of olive oil over the top of the dish before topping it off with a can of fire roasted tomatoes! If you like your veggies a bit spicier, you could use 2 cans and pour one in the middle! As you can see your dish will fill up fast! If you want it a bit more juicer, you can add a 1/2 cup of water to the dish as well.

Last you will want to cut your spaghetti squash in half.
Putting each half skin side down in about a 1/2" inch of water in a casserole dish.

Now put both your dishes side by side in your oven and cook for about an hour! Depending on how soft or crunchy you like your veggies will depend on your cooking time. I do like mine a bit more firm than smooshy, so an hour seems pretty good!

Your house will be filled with an amazing flavorful fall smell of roasted veggies! At this point I pull the lid off of the veggies and I sprinkle a mixture of parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top! I love cheese and although this is not necessarily following a strict "eat clean" program my family loves the cheese too! Once you have the amount of cheese you want on top, then broil until golden brown!

Once the spaghetti squash is cooled enough to touch, begin by scraping out the inside with a large fork creating the spaghetti as your base for veggies!

Layer your plate with the spaghetti squash and top it with the roasted veggies! I love to sprinkle my dish with crushed red pepper for more of a kick! Really, I should've called this is a low carb veggie spaghetti! If your family turns their nose up at the spaghetti squash, you can switch it out for any type of pasta, but then of course its not low carb!

Enjoy!

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