Chocolate Cherry Zucchini Smoothie (a.k.a. Chocolate Shake)

I am currently training for a half marathon in December. It's my THIRD attempt at training for one - I always get injured. This time I'm making sure I cross train and get in a swim or bike session to cut down on the pounding on my joints. So far so good. I've worked up to 7 miles and have actually ran 7 miles for my long run three weekend in a row because I'm ahead of schedule. 

Usually I go for my long runs on Saturday or Sunday morning. I just get up and go. I love running in the mornings and being able to see the sun rise. BUT my body doesn't like running in the mornings. It's still asleep. I always feel so slow and sluggish. So this weekend I decided to go for a run in the evening. The weather has started to cool down so it was a great temperature. So many people were outside walking their dogs or having a picnic which made it a good people-watching-while-running-kind-of-night. I felt great too. Not sluggish like my recent morning runs. Unfortunately, even though I felt great, I ended up running slower than I usually do in the mornings. Weird. 

Anyways, I've been wanting to try out this chocolate cherry smoothie that has zucchini in it for a while and I finally bought some frozen cherries to do so. I was looking forward to it the entire time I was running. Hey, an motivation helps right? 

And praises, I wasn't disappointed with the result! Seriously. Try this smoothie. It tastes like a chocolate milkshake...except there is no dairy and you even get a serving of veggies in your belly!

Chocolate Cherry Zucchini smoothie

(Makes 2 servings)

 Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cups almond milk (half frozen into ice cubes)

· 1 medium zucchini, cut into chunks NOT sliced

· 1 cup of frozen sweet cherries, pitted

· 2 tablespoons almond butter*

· 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

· Splash of vanilla extract

* I haven’t tried this with any other nut butters yet, but I’m sure it would taste just as good!

* If you want a sweeter smoothie, add in either 2 dates OR 1 tablespoon liquid sweetener of choice.

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients in a high quality blender and blend until smooth. You may need to stop and mix the ingredients a couple of times to help the blender along.

Notes: Adapted from here.

Let me know if you try this with a different kind of nut butter or added sweetener!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

PB&J Thumbprint Cookies

I tried out another dessert recipe from the Forks Over Knives cookbook and it turned out great!  I was licking the dough off my fingers before these cookies even made it into the oven (don't worry, I washed my hands after).

My husband has quite the sweet tooth, so I like to have dessert that are as healthy as possible available for him. I want him to be able to satisfy his sweet tooth while also getting some nutrients in his belly. While these cookies have sugar in them, they are butter and oil free and have healthy fats from raw almond butter and fiber from rolled oats and oat flour. They remind me of a rich PB&J sandwich, hence the name. Hope you like them!

PB&J Thumbprint Cookies

(Makes 20 cookies)

 Ingredients:

· 1/4 cup almond butter, or nut butter of choice

· 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

· 1/2 cup natural cane sugar

· 1 tablespoon flaxseed

· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

· 1 3/4 cups oat flour*

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

· 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

· 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

· 1/4 cup strawberry jam, or other berry jam

 *If you don’t have oat flour, you can make it yourself. Place old-fashioned rolled oats into a food processor and process until they turn into flour. For me, 3 cups of rolled oats yielded 2 1/2 cups of oat flour. Store in an air tight container.

  Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together the almond butter, applesauce, sugar and flaxseed until combined. Then add in the vanilla extract and stir a little more.

3. Add in the oat flour, baking soda and sea salt and mix well. Then fold in the old fashioned oats and chopped walnuts.

4. Scoop out two tablespoons of dough at a time and roll it into balls and place on the line baking sheet. You can probably fit all 20 cookies on one sheet because they won’t expand while baking.

5. Once all the dough has been rolled into balls, wet your thumb with some water and press a deep thumbprint into the center of each ball of dough.

6. Place 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the thumbprint of each cookie

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack or plate to cool.

8. Store in an air tight container or in the fridge if keeping them longer than a few days.

9. Enjoy your bite-sized piece of childhood!

Nutrition: Cals: 102; Fat: 4.3g; Carbs: 15g; Fiber: 2.1g; Sugars: 6.6g: Protein: 2.4g

Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Homemade Almond Butter

I've always known that peanut butter is made from peanuts and almond butter is made from almonds. Duh. But who knew that with a little patience it could be so easy to make on your own AND that by making your own nut butter at home you can control what goes into your nut butter. Beautiful revelation.

The other day I wanted to make Cranberry Orange Biscotti, but the recipe called for almond butter, which I didn't have. Then I realized that this would be the perfect time to try to make my own almond butter. Thankfully I had some roasted almonds in my cupboard and the time to make it. I don't know if I'll ever buy nut butter from the store again.

Homemade Almond Butter

1 1/2 - 2 cups almonds (roasted or plain)
Sea Salt (optional)

To make your own nut butter you'll need a good food processor...and some patience.
Place all the almonds in your food processor and process on high. (Make sure you process on high, or otherwise this process will take an hour instead of 15 minutes. I learned the hard way and my food processor even died for a couple of minutes because I had been working it so hard!)

After a couple of minutes, your almonds will turn into a course meal and will eventually get finer after a few more minutes.

 

As you continue processing the almonds, stop your processor every couple of minutes or so to push down the sides and make sure that all of the almonds are getting processed. Soon you'll be able to see a subtle paste begin to form on the bottom of your processor. But keep going!



After about 15 minutes or high processing and the occasional pushing down of the sides, you'll start to get almond butter! At this time you can add your seas salt if you desire, which is so delicious.



Ah, pure almond butter. Made a home. No added ingredients. Mmmmm.



I used a little less than 1 1/2 cups of almonds and it almost filled a small mason jar. I hope you try it out. It's so easy and pure, you won't regret it!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith