Recipe Review- Chocolate Zucchini Bread from PaleOMG

This recipe is not even borderline amazing, it is just amazing…Good god I could eat the whole batch. As you know by now I have been churning out tons of zucchini in the garden and I'm quickly finding and creating new recipes to eat all of it. 

I was at work a few days ago talking about my huge problems with too many zucchini on my counter and as soon as I said it I knew the next statement was coming- I wished I could retrace my words and go back but too late- someone said, " Oh why don't you make zucchini bread"! Ugh…No offense to you zucchini bread lovers out there but there is not another food on this earth that I have more disdain for…I mean, what food has such a cult following with people swearing that it is healthy- 'Oh I made zucchini bread and ate the whole thing it was so delicious but I was just eating vegetables so no biggie". Wrong. just because you add zucchini to something doesn't make it healthier- it is still laden with fat, calories, and sugar. It's about the same thing as eating a Krispy Kreme doughnut with a carrot on top.. Anyway, off topic…I don't care for the traditional bread…ok moving on..

I follow PaleOMG (Juli) on Instagram and think she's absolutely hilarious. So, I checked out her stash of zucchini recipes and her Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread one is a hit- No really- smack your mama good..She made hers as a loaf but my loaf pan was occupied with the chocolate cinnamon banana bread recipe I made yesterday..So muffins it was….

Here it is and I'm putting a direct link to her website for the recipe because she deserves muchos kudos for this one!

Recipe Here

What makes something that is Paleo better for you than traditional ways of cooking? GREAT question. It depends on particularly what you are making BUT with this bread it has no flour, no oil, no refined sugar, and every ingredient is a whole food- no processed crap! More about Paleo in the future I have eating to do :)

Sunday Funday Baking- Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

An Adventure with The Paleo Kitchen Cookbook

I am in love with the Paleo Kitchen Cookbook- as you can tell by the many bookmarks and papers I've stuffed in mine…I will say that for the average person this cookbook can initially seem obnoxious with their grass-fed butters, organic honeys, and coconut flours..BUT the recipes are wholesome, healthy, and really teach you creative ideas with food. You don't have to follow every ingredient- tweak it for how your life works. 

 Each recipe I make is better then the previous and their photos and write-ups are amazing. Great cookbook recommendation! Christmas idea maybe?! Anyway, this was my favorite thing thus far so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients:

coconut oil to grease the pan ( I used Pam spray because that's how I roll)

For the Bread:
4 Bananas
4 large Eggs
1/2 cup Butter (unsalted grass fed apparently is best- I used unsalted land-o-lakes..)
1/2 cup Almond Butter (yeah I only had peanut butter- what a travesty)
1/2 cup Coconut Flour- it's not that hard to find...click here to purchase
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

For the Swirl:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips ( again, apparently vegan-type chips are best…didn't have those either)
1 Tbsp honey

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan (can also line with parchment paper but I did not and it was fine). 

Combine bananas, eggs, butter, and almond butter in a mixer until they are creamy. 

Add the coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and salt. Mix until well combined. 

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread out evenly. 

In a double boiler (aka a bowl in a pot of boiling water) over medium low heat, mix together the swirl ingredients until all the chocolate is melted. 

Pour the chocolate mix onto the loaf and use a butter knife to make swirls. 

Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean ( Mine took closer to an hour because I was cooking other things at the same time). 

And BOOM- ENJOY! You will have no idea that this treat doesn't have oil, flour, or refined sugar in it!!! Nom Nom. 

The Best Pizza I've Ever Made

Peach Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Pizza

I picked up a few fresh peaches from Emily's produce in Cambridge MD ( great place if you haven't been). SO what to do with them? Well last year I made a great peach and prosciutto sandwich on ciabatta bread but I've been on an anti- bread kick lately so what else to make- pizza of course…Yes, its also bread but I could live the rest of my life without a sandwich ever again- However I guarantee you that I couldn't make it 1 month without pizza. This was the end result…Amazing! Good luck not eating the whole thing!

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (store bought or homemade, I used store bought)

2-4 cloves of Garlic, crushed (depending on how much you like)

1 c. Ricotta cheese

1 large Peach, sliced

1 pkg Prosciutto, torn into 3-4 inch pieces

1/2 c. Goat Cheese crumbles

fresh Basil & Oregano (could also use Rosemary)

drizzle of Honey

Pre-heat your oven to 500. Place a pizza stone in the oven to bring up to temperature. Once hot, remove the stone and place your pizza dough on it. I use a dusting of cornmeal on the stone to prevent it from sticking. Place back in the over for 2-3 minutes just to give it a light golden color. Take it out, flip it over and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and crushed garlic- spread evenly over crust. Place back in oven for another 2-3 minutes to get this side golden as well. It'll look something  like this..

Remove again, spread ricotta over crust. Top with peach slices, prosciutto, goat cheese, and your herbs. Place back in the oven just to melt the cheese and crisp the prosciutto (4-5 minutes). Remove and drizzle with honey. BOOM -AMAZEBALLS!! 

Who needs delivery when you have peaches?

Favorite Find- PB2

Who doesn't love peanut butter? It's a great add in for protein shakes, breakfast, and also a good source of protein. It is listed in the Abs Diet as a powerfood- so we should eat it all the time right? Sadly,  no. It comes packed with fat as well as protein so you have to moderate the intake- this is a real challenge for me since I can chow down on it non stop. So I had to find an alternative and I finally did. PB2
PB2 is a peanut powder that is made from drying and grinding peanuts to a fine powder- this process allows a great majority of fat to be removed. Just add a bit of water so create a traditional peanut butter consistently and save 145 calories per serving!

PB2 comes in traditional peanut butter flavor and also a chocolate peanut butter flavor- hheelloo yum!
I found it at Target and you can also order online at Amazon here.

Add it to your shakes, top on a banana or apple, or make an old school PB&J sammich- its great all around. Give it a try!

Nutritional Comparison per 2 Tbsp Serving

 

                                      Traditional Peanut Butter                                 PB2                       
                                                 190 cal                                              45 cal                               
                                                 17g of fat                                           1.5 g of fat

Dear Ladies..Please Stop Skipping Meals

I've had quite a few people lately tell me that they are trudging to lose weight. The first questions I ask is, "Well, how often are you eating"? Five women this week have all replied, "Well that's just the thing, I'm only eating once a day"! So I figured I'd share some thoughts on this. Your body has no idea that this is 2014- your body is functioning the same way as it would have if you were born 2,000 years ago. We are very primal beings and our body has some pretty basic functions and concepts that regulate it. 

First, you have to eat within two hours of waking up. 
If you are one of many people who are not hungry in the morning, you figure you'll save the calories by skipping breakfast altogether. Actually what you are doing is telling your metabolism that you are still sleeping. You are basically saying to you body is "stay asleep, don't increase my metabolism, don't burn any calories". So that is what your body does and throughout your day you burn minimal calories. By eating first thing in the morning you say, "HEY WAKE UP and burn some calories! That initial meal jump starts everything for your whole day. 
Breakfast doesn't have to be big or well thought out. During the week I am a huge fan of hard boiled adds, oatmeal, and Greek yogurt. It can be something small- but make it something high protein. 

Second, you have to eat often. 
Skipping meals sound like a great way to save calories and be more of the productive super woman you are. However, by skipping meals your body goes back to those caveman instincts and thinks you might be starving. Your body has no idea when you will eat again and therefore it cannot afford to burn frivolous calories. SO- you body slows it's metabolism and the next time you DO eat- your body will hoard every calorie and ounce of fat! This is a basic fear concept- "I have no idea when our next meal is coming so I am going to conserve EVERYTHING so we don't die. By eating every 4-5 hours your body is assured that you are not starving, that it can freely burn calories and fat. Eat!
Now please don't take this as me saying eat a high meals every 4-5 hours- no. Ideally your meals will be around 400 calories and 1-2 snacks of 150 calories. Again, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, high protein. 

Lastly, find out what works for you.
Experiment with foods. See how long you can stay full by eating eggs for breakfast, then the next day see how long you are satisfied with oatmeal, etc, etc. You will find that your body works better and more efficiently with certain foods over others. 

And….. I'm Back

Well it's been quite the hiatus. I'd love to say it was all fun vacation leisure time but truth be told there have been a lot of family related events/tasks/commitments- some happier than others. When you get bogged down with life events, stress, and well..craziness- where do you find your outlet? Is it work? Exercise? Spending time with friends/loved ones? I think that can be very different for each of us. 

No matter what your outlet is -I urge you to find it and be aware of what works best for you. A few things I have learned over the last few months is how to find balance, how to let go of what is unimportant, and find time for myself in each day. That's what ultimately keeps me happy and sane. I tend to stress over things like laundry, making a healthy dinner, making sure the house is clean, making sure I am on top of everything with work, making sure I am keeping up with this blog, working out more often than not, etc, etc. I'm sure you are all the same- however there just isn't time in each day to check each of those things off the list and that's where I can sometimes get frazzled. I sometimes think of my day or myself as a failure if I don't accomplish all of the above mentioned things in a seamless manner, all while looking cool, calm, and collected. That was until a few months ago when I found my balance. Through some ups and downs in my family life and through much endless support from Adam I was able to learn that I am not a superwoman- nor do I need to be. My house won't always have all the laundry done, it won't always be spotless (far from it), and there will be nights when I say - "let's order pizza- I'm tired" AND THAT'S OK.  I think in this era of Pinterest and craft wizards and supermom's who blog about making homemade butter and bread- we normal people can be left to feel a little ..well..subpar. I urge to to let that feeling go- if you are anything like me and want to be everything, do everything- you know how it can be..I have realized that age 30 I am who I am- I'm not a Betty Crocker stay at home mom who doesn't sleep, finds joy in scrubbing floors, and always has makeup/hair done for my husband-it's just not. I'm a hard working career woman who enjoys spending time with my better half and my dog, trying new recipes, drinking wine, laughing and being happy- and when there's time left over to do the mundane chores I will. 

Here's what I found works for me… 
1- I set goals for each day- and there are no more than 3 of them. 
2- I take an hour to do whatever I want everyday- some days that is working out and some days it's planting my ass on the couch and looking on FB
3- I say "who cares' about something everyday- maybe the laundry needs doing and I don't have time today or maybe I over indulged on Chinese food last night- regardless I let it go..I'm human

I write this today as a transition back into blogging- it's been a few months and while I've been silent on the front- I have been gathering a ton of ideas I can't wait to write about. I think today's blog was more of a therapeutic release for me and hopefully some of you can relate and learn to let go of the silly things in life and learn to enjoy the here and now. My goal for this entire blog is to reach people on a personal level and give people the motivation to be strong and move closer to their goals- we all have set backs, but what's important is that we learn from them and become better. 

Much Love,
Brittany

Are Your "Healthy" Drinks Making You Fat?

 

The 'health & wellness" industry is booming. People worldwide are spending billions of dollars on energy drinks, supplements, health programs, and "all natural" products that claim to make us slimmer, healthier, happier, and well..just better... And who doesn't want to be better? So we buy it..

 

For that reason many companies are on the bandwagon to sell us "healthy drinks" that are great choices for everyday living- TREAD LIGHTLY HERE... Not all of these brands are healthful. Just because a label says "all natural" or "made from real fruit" does not mean it is low calories or fat. These drinks can quickly pack on the pounds faster than a starving model at a Pillsbury Bake Off competition.

 

Take a look at some offenders..Are you drinking any of these??

 Keep in mind that your drinks should not have calories or sugar-

 

Remember that the American Heart Association recommends only 24 grams of sugar A DAY.

 

Bolthouse Drinks

 

 

 

Mango Coconut Splash has 120 calories and 13 g sugar

Daily Greens has 180 calories and 19 g sugar

Berry Boost Smoothie has 260 calories and 28g sugar

 

Naked Drinks

 

 

Berry Blast has 240calories and 52 g of sugar  52!!!! That's the sugar content of 2 Snickers bars!!!

 

 

 

Acai Machine has 320 calories and 48 g of sugar

 

Vitamin Water

 

 

 

Various flavors including power-c, energy, focus all of which have 120 cal, 32g sugar

Better Option: Vitamin water does have a line called vitamin water zero- with zero cals/sugar. Please watch your labels!

 Dunkin Donuts

Medium Frozen Coffee Coolata with milk has 420 cal, 77g sugar
Medium Frozen Caramel Coolata with cream has 800 calories and 98g of sugar
          That's the sugar equivalent of three cups of chocolate ice cream!
 

Better Option: Dunkin Donuts does have a DDSmart label on healthier options such as an iced coffee with cream (70 calories and 0 g of sugar)