Recipe: Cookie Dough Hummus

There isn't too much outside of clean that I can eat while I am on this competition diet which is totally okay with me because it opened my eyes to exactly HOW much process unhealthy foods I was eating. Time for a reality check right?

SO I went digging and I found this recipe and I LOVE IT! I can eat everything in it and I would use it on a cheat day because of the sugar and the chocolate chips and graham crackers that you can eat with this and that my dears makes it all that much better! 

Don't be afraid to try it just because chickpeas are in there. It's really good and good for you! I DARE you to bring this to a party and not tell anyone that this is a healthy option and see how it is received!!!!

Since I have been on a healthy kick and I am trying to eat as mean and clean as possible, I have to adjust some of the things that I like to eat. There are certain times that I crave sweets like it is nobody’s business and this is one of my go-to recipes and I wanted to share with you guys this awesome recipe. Now trust me when you see the ingredients you are going to probably say seriously?!?!? Ha ha trust me it’s yummy and you will probably become obsessed.

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans (1 can, drained) (250g after draining)
• heaping 1/8 tsp salt
• tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup nut butter of choice (You can get away with using only 3 tbsp. If you use peanut butter, some people say it has a slight “pb cookie dough” taste, so you can sub oil if you don’t want that.)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp oats (You can omit if desired.)

• milk of choice as needed (depending on the consistency you want. I used a few tbsp.)

Add all ingredients, except chocolate chips, to a food processor (for best results, not a blender) and blend until VERY smooth.

I hope that you all enjoy this yummy snack!!!!

Week 2

Well week 2 is almost done on my training plan and I can tell you that I am just as sore and I am just as hungry as I was last week. It's funny because it hits at certain times of the day. I also think about quitting once a day and binging on some fried yummy goodness. I think about foods I wouldn't normally eat ALL the time ha ha ha.

I am not sure if this whole thing is for me, there is a huge learning curve and it is very demanding of my time so that doesn't make it any better but for now I am going to move forward because I know how proud I am going to be once it is all said and done.

I took my two week pictures and they look the same as the first ones that I sent in........I am also BLOATED from eating all day so I think that I am going to re-take them tomorrow morning to see if there is any change....... probably not but we shall see what happens in the morning and either way I have to submit the pictures......ha ha ha I hope my coach doesn't FREAK LOL

Other than that my life has been pretty much me being hungry in the evenings and working out and being sore ha ha. Tomorrow I will post my progress pictures so that you all can follow me on my littl fitness journey!

Whew 2012

Well I am back! It has been awhile and I have so much news! I hope that all of you reading had a wonderful Holiday and New Years! I know most of us have resolutions and what not. I have made some pretty hefty goals on my vision board and hopefully they will all come true!

In Alaska I had so many dreams of the things that I would do once I got out of there and I feel like my time here in Mass is the place that I should make those dreams a reality. I have progressed in my career enough to be able to sit back and relax a little bit (LOL not really I am testing for the next rank in May) but nothing is guaranteed so I must try everything to get ahead right staying stagnant for too long isn't a good thing! Anyway so I am starting 2013 with a BANG!

I joined the Cathy Savage Fitness Team. I am going to compete in April in a bikini competition. I am totally excited. I have been with them for about 2 weeks now and I can say that it is tough but I love it. I can't imagine what my body is going to look like just like I had no idea what my body was going to look like and I am kind of excited. I haven't given up on my beachbody products I fully intend on using them once I am done with my competition in April. It kind of all started when I was looking at the women on Oxygen Magazine, and I wanted to look like them, I actually started their challenge and that is how I started my fitness journey but P90X changed EVERYTHING for me and make me the ME that I wanted to see in the mirror. I am still drinking my Shakeology ha ha I love that stuff and wouldn't ever stop using it. I live by it! I digress.......

So last year I wrote out this big list of things that I wanted to do and being in a fitness competition wasn't one of them but it was one of those things that I thought about and then let go. I met a Coastie that did one and I thought it was cool until I saw what she ate and then I thought drinking beer was more fun, I then met a lady that did hair that was into figure and she won and I thought it was cool then but didn't have the funds to fly all the way to Anchorage just to compete on top of the costs so NOW is the time LOL.

It has been a lonely ride and I am now that girl that eats chicken and all the weird stuff but I feel that I am ready for it and want the change in pace for a little while and I want to kick a**** on that stage LOL. Oh well it is what it is right.

I am also committing more to this blog. I feel that now that I am doing this competiton thing I am going to have to get creative with my food so I am going to start posting recipes of the things that I eat along with how this journey is going for me. I will be posting motivation pictures as well as my progress pictures so stay tuned! Ahhhhh I am going to be a fitness competitor! WOW! LOL Until next time!

Jeannette!

Paleo Dinner Day 1.

Hello!!!

This Monday was a MANIC Monday for sure! Yesterday we started to notice that my kiddo has pink eye so that really stunk. We totally were not ready for him to be sick but really? When are we ever as parents right?? Well my husband had duty where he stays at work all night long and today was pay cut for me. Which means that today is the last day to enter pay transactions into the data base so it can go on the members pay check. Well we kind of both HAD to be at work, but we worked it out. When I got to work AYE AYE AYE one of my co-workers forgot to fill out the proper paperwork to discharge a person from the service and it took us 5 hours to complete this on top of all of the transactions that had to be put in today! WOW it was a busy hectic day. I am thankful for it but still WHEW!

SO my eating was a bit off track.....not really but it's not all that I wanted to eat. We were in a rush to get out of the door so, I ate an oatmeal packet with a banana, then I had a microwave meal with a Caesar salad, then I had some brown rice chips and when I came home I ate my Paleo salmon with broccoli. I thought that my iPad would take a picture and keep it in my photos but NOPE so here is my instagram feed (follow if ya wanna!)

SO after dinner I hung out with my kiddo whom is looking and feeling better so he will be going to school unless they don't want him but he isn't contagious and he isn't gooping anymore so we will see what happens tomorrow morning.

Back to my eating! AHHHHH I can't believe I ate so much processed foods. Tomorrow I am going to be eating eggs in the morning and then I have some chicken that I made yesterday in the fridge and go ahead and eat that with some broccoli since I have some left over.

Do any of you struggle with your eating?? I am starting to feel the toxic feeling of eating so many processed foods......After Thanksgiving it will be on with some serious clean eating meals! Of course I will start tomorrow but I know that after Thanksgiving I will be more in tuned with this!

Paleo anyone??

** I am not being endorsed or paid for this post **

So while I was on FB yesterday I found a like page for emeals. I went and checked out the website and I clicked on the several different meal plans that they offer and it was really cool. I was able to score a whole meal plan from the website and it was a Paleo meal plan. The cool thing is, is that they give you a meal plan and then they provide you with a grocery list and if you pick a grocery store they can average out what you are going to spend for the weeks worth of dinners.

I have heard a lot about the Paleo DINNER meal plan on FB and on some of the blogs that I read on my free time and I was curious about the way that they ate but didn't really want to do all the leg work in the way of eating because I sort of thought that it was a fad type diet but I looked over the meal plan and it is VERY CLEAN and very healthy so I am going to accept the emeals Paleo Challenge! I am going to start next week.

So all week for 7 days I will be having a Paleo meal dinner. The menu includes;

Asian spiced salmon, crustless herb quiche, maple glazed chicken, grilled tilapia fillets, pork tenderloin with peach salsa, mustard thyme roasted chicken, blackened skirt steak. They all include sides which look delicious too. I will attempt to post pictures of my dinner meals every night and review what they tasted like and show my receipt. If I like the meal plan I may subscribe to the service and make it my go-to meal planner! I am excited to try this!!!!!!

Don't eat a banana........

I was finally able to get outside and run! I had been running on the treadmill but I don't think that I can use the runkeeper but between time, the hurricane, and the Noreaster, things have not been pleasant to run outside. Keeping it inside on the treadmill is really effing boring except for my last 4 mile run on Thursday. I watched Wendy Williams and was dying laughing so that made things better.

My goals with running are going to be running outside, getting cold weather gear to do that in addition to trying to get my miles in. I am not too sure what they weather is liek here but it is going ot be a challenge prepping for this half marathon but it will be done.

So this morning it was like 60 something degrees outside and I ate a banana prior to running and WOW talk about slimy saliva ewwwwww. I spit more than I have ever in my life! Ha ha maybe it was a little gross but this is my blog so whatever :) I was also running with a serious headwind that took my breath away when I would go up hill so I had to walk a few times just to catch my breath but it was all good. The weather was fantastic and I felt like I was in Florida today so I just let myself be there. I went to Florida this morning and I realized how much I want to go back home and just be there.

My son lives there with his father and I would so much more like to be a bigger presence in his life. Not only that though, I miss FL and the palm trees and knowing where every thing is and what not. I just feel like I am at home there. Not like a visitor that is coming and going and not setting roots in the ground, but that is the life of a military member right? I signed up for this but now that the holidays are coming and I am getting older setting roots is starting to take over my mind and to me it takes a place to do that.........

Anyway, I had a wonderful weekend! I ran, I had a photoshoot with the hubbs, and I got to spend time with my Boogie and had a day away from him today and got lots of personal things done like get back to this blog LOL.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!!!!

Les Mills Week 4 DOWN

Well today was the last day of week for Day 28 but next week would have been thirty but I went strong for 4 weeks.

I ate like POOP in the month of October. I mean I ate well a lot but most of the time I fell off the wagon with candy, Chinese food, candy, fish and chips, beer, soda......you get the picture. I always picked up right where I left off before I ate the bad foods that I did but I felt like I went haywire if you know what I mean. October was the month of indulgence for me. I will leave it at that, but maintaining my weight loss will always keep me on my toes and I will always evaluate what I have done for the day, week, and month and make adjustments. I think that when I started running my metabolism spiked and I went for what was quick and easy most of the time like having a microwave meal because I was too lazy to make my lunch in the morning. This month will be all about changing the bad habits and getting back on track.

So here are my Les Mill Pump 30 day results.

I am up 2.4 pounds. I had wine last night my weight was hovering at 121 for a few weeks so I am convinced that I gained a pound but it's ok. I lost three inches total, the only place I did not lose inches was in my waist and hips they stayed the same so it is better than gaining anything right? I don't fell that I look any different though. I wrote everything down so that you all could see it.

I am ready to get onto the next phase. Pump challenge is a good workout but doing only that three times a week gets pretty boring......in the same respect I think it is because Beachbody is KNOWN for having 13 discs and having you change your disc every day for the 5-6 days that it has you work out so essentially you aren't really doing the same workout all the time........but I pushed through and knew that it was temporary so I am happy with my results :) I wasn't delusional in thinking that I was going to look better I was actually surprised at the 3 inches lost!

Oh one more thing. I did go up in weight. I started with 10-15 pounds and now I am hanging out at 20-25 pounds and the 25 is going to the squat and back section :) I am really happy with that so I am def getting stronger and that is pretty amazing!!!!!

Until next time! :)