Tricky Tricky!

Today is Father's Day. I absolutely adore and appreciate both my father and the father of my son. My father has always been there for me. He taught me how to throw a softball, how to assemble a tent, how to drive a car, how to shoot a gun, and so many other valuable lessons. But most importantly, he taught me a father has to be present to have a relationship with his children. As I've become an adult, I've come to find that not everyone had fathers who were present in their lives. Some were even abandoned by their father. I have always appreciated what I had growing up and the example my dad was allowed me to understand the qualities I wanted in a husband. So I'm happy to say I married a great guy too, who as of last year is a daddy!

Even though both of these wonderful men have outstanding qualities, there is something they do lack (let's face it, no one is perfect). They are horrible eaters! Lucky they have me to teach them this. I've come to find out over the last 6 years that to get them to eat my food I can't tell them what's in it. LOL! I make sneaky substitutions that allow me to remove some "un-clean" ingredients and replace them with foods that are chock full of vitamins, minerals, and flavor. Here's a couple examples. In Mike's lasagna I replace; 1) the ricotta cheese with a mix of tofu and cottage cheese, 2) I top the lasagna with part-skim mozzarella, 3)the meat is lean ground turkey with lots of Italian spices, 3) the noodle is quinoa pasta and 4) I use organic low-sugar, low sodium tomato sauce.

At least with my husband he has grown to understand I cook this way and he knows his food is bound to contain ingredients from my healthy style of living. My Dad on the other hand is a different story. If its an ingredient he has never heard of or doesn't understand them he won't even give it a try! So I have to be extra sneaky with him. Example: I made him a tuna sandwich. I only switched out 1/2 of the mayo for some Greek yogurt. And I used the albacore tuna in water instead of oil. These simple substitutions keep the flavor but change the end product to a more "clean eating" choice.

Here is a small list of simple swaps that can help boost nutrition and/or cut the total calories and fat in your end recipe.

Fats:

Greek Yogurt instead of mayonnaise (I like Fage)
1% cottage cheese instead of Ricotta
Vegetable oil in baking replaced with applesauce
Peanut Butter replaced with PB2 (found at most health food store or on Amazon)

Carbohydrates:

Ezekiel Bread\Torillas over white bread/tortillas
Almond Flour instead of White Flour
Bananas in place of sugar and oil in baking recopes
Oats instead of bread crumbs

Protein:

Chia Seeds for Eggs in baking recipes
Switching out meats for leaner cuts on the animal (sirloin instead of chuck, or chicken breast instead of thigh).

Cake Pops!

Cake:
1 can black beans rinsed well
7 pitted dates
1 scoop protein powder
1 tsp vanilla
14 pecans
2 tbs cocoa
2 packets stevia
Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place in a 6x6 cake pan and bake 375F for 30 minutes. Let cool completely.

The "glue":
2 tbs chia seeds
6 tbs coffee (or water)
Place chia in small bowl with liquid and soak for 15 till it become a jelly

Chocolate Coating:
4 tsp cocoa
4 tsp melted coconut oil
Stevia to taste (I used 2 packets but it's not very sweet)

Now put it all together! Crumble the cooled cake into a large bowl. Add the chia jelly and form the mixture into small golf size balls. Place a popsicle stick into a ball and coat the ball in the chocolate coating mixture. Place the cake pops in the fridge for at least one hour or until the coating hardens. Enjoy! Makes 20 pops.

Put all the ingredients for the cake in the food processor.

Cooling the cake.

Yep, those are nails. 'Cuz I'm hardcore like that!

The Nutrition Information

Calories:59 Carbohydrates:6.5 Fat:3 Protein:3

Flag Nor Fail!

Yesterday my new Flag Nor Fail sleeveless hoodie arrived in the mail. This is my third purchase from the company who is quickly becoming my newest addiction. If you're not familiar with FNF, they are a small company that hand prints their products (mostly shirts) and has extremely limited quantities of each piece. That means once they sell out it's GONE. I love their message, "FLAG NOR FAIL is a mindset. No surrender and no failure. Flag represents surrender, much like one would wave a white flag to admit defeat. No surrender, no failure." Mostly bodybuilders wear their clothes, but it's not limited to only us meat heads. Dana Linn Bailey, the NPC's first Women's Physique Pro and her husband are the main faces behind the clothing brand. I love Dana's physique and follow her career in the IFBB. She looks a lot different in the shirts than I do, but hey, I think I still look pretty good in them. ;) Anyways, today I tried my hand at the "Perfect Foods Bar". I stumbled across this delicious snack/meal replacement bar a couple years back at the health food store. I was very impressed with the ingredients list AND the flavor was phenomenal. Yesterday I went to Good Earth for a few things (Ezekiel Bread, Kombucha Tea, and some dark chocolate). I was standing by the cashier line and saw the Perfect Foods Bar eyeballing me back. My tummy grumbled and then yelled, "feed me... with that!" So I obliged and purchased the bar. I shared some with Kellen, because ya I'm confident enough in the brand and the ingredients that I'd feed it to my 1 year old. He gobbled up half of it, little stinker. The bar is pretty expensive, about $3 each. So I decided to try to make a version for myself.

In a food processor, mix 4 tbs almond butter, 12 almonds, 2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tbs chia seeds and 1 tbs flax seeds. It'll form a ball in the food processor when it's done. Remove the dough and form into 3 small bars.

And here's a pic in my new FNF sleeveless hoodie.

Demoliate

I made up a word today. I actually like it quite a bit! It was totally by accident that it popped out of my mouth. I was training with my friend and we were totally destroying our legs. High volume training with moderate weight but lots of reps and sets. On the leg extension machine, I turned to her and said, "we are going to demoliate our quads today!" She started laughing and said, "wow, you must be serious". I figure I was trying to say ANNIHILATE and DEMOLISH at the same time. Anyways, I made some NUTTY TRUFFLES the other day. My usual taste tester (my 1 year old) enjoyed them quite a bit. I also had a couple new taste testers give them a try, my mother-in-law and father-in-law. Well, my father-in-law went back for seconds so I figure they're good enough to post the recipe. In a food processor put: 1 handful almonds, 1 handful pecans, 1 palmful flax seeds, 12 dates, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 handful oats. Blend until smooth, about 5 minutes. Roll mixture into golf ball size and drop into cocoa powder covering all sides.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ok, so these don't look the prettiest of all gnocchi but they sure taste good. And even my taste tester couldn't stop raving about them! Ingredients: 1 Extra Large Sweet Potato. 1.25 cups oat flour (you can make oat flour by putting your dry oats in a blender). 1 egg. Oregano, basil and salt to taste. Place sweet potato in oven at 400F for about 45 minutes, or until the center is soft (another option is to cook in the microwave). Remove from oven and let cool. Remove skin from the sweet potato and mash the flesh in a large bowl. Add oat flour, whole egg, and seasonings. Mix until just incorporated. Roll dough into long tubes then using a fork (or knife) cut into one inch tubes. Bring a pot of water to boiling and add 5-10 gnocchi at a time allowing to cook for 3-5 minutes, or until they begin to float. Fish them out and place onto plate to cool. I served them with a sprinkling of Parmesan Cheese.

The dough.

My taste tester couldn't get enough of them!

Delicious Protein Date Bars

These bars are natural, no weird ingredients. Simple too. Put 2 cups walnuts and 1 8-ounce package of dates in a food processor for 5-10 minutes or untill the texture is grainy. Transfer to large bowl. Add 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1 tbs cinnamon and 1/2 cup egg whites. Mix untill all ingredients are incorporated. Spread into 8x8 bar pan and bake for 20 at 350F or untill firm. Let cool completely then cut into squares.