Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Stress Reducers

The healthy breakfast and lunch kept me feeling 100% until about 3pm. That's when I started feeling the cold-like symptoms coming on again, so I gave myself another shot of Zicam spray.

At snack time, I was craving something sweet, so in addition to my 1/2 banana, I devoured enjoyed one of these beauties from the other night...
Salt-Kissed Peanut Butter Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
When I was making them, this little guy didn't want to come off the pan... so I ate him. :)

Salt-Kissed Chunky Peanut Butter Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe courtesy of Oh She Glows
Ingredients:
  • 1 + 1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour* (see note below) <--- I used 1 cup (Amykinz)
  • 1/4 cup organic sugar
  • 1/4 tsp fleur de sel (or reg. salt)
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1.5 tbsp cacao nibs (optional, but they add crunch!) <--- I used non-dairy chocolate chips instead (Amykinz)
  • 3-4 tsp non-dairy dark chocolate chips <--- I still added these, too (Amykinz)
  • 1.5 tbsp chunky peanut butter <--- I used creamy peanut butter (Amykinz)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 3.5 tbsp canola oil <--- I used olive oil (Amykinz)
  • Fleur de sel, for garnish
  • Turbinado sugar, for garnish (optional) <--- I opted, YES! (Amykinz)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with oil. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients (spelt flour, baking soda, baking powder, fleur de sel, sugar). Whisk together. In a medium sized bowl mix all wet ingredients (peanut butter, maple syrup, oil. vanilla). Mix well making sure the PB is thoroughly mixed in. Now add wet to dry and stir. Mix with hands if necessary until fully incorporated. Stir in cacao nibs and chocolate chips. Wet hands and shape small cookies about 1.5 inches in diameter and place on baking sheet. Bake for just 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack after a couple minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. 
*Note: If you prefer thinner cookies as in trial 3, omit 1/4 cup spelt flour and just use 1 cup.
Nutritional info: (Make 14 cookies, per cookie:) 115 kcals, 6 grams fat, 2 grams fibre, 2 grams protein, 7 grams sugar.


Today was a running day with a friend, so I was excited to try out a new path! It was tougher than my last 2 runs because the paths were hilly, but they were really quite beautiful this time of year. I was also SUPER excited because I shaved off another minute/per mile from my pace! I'm up to 13 min/mile averages, which I think is pretty good for it only being my 3rd run and I'm doing walk/run intervals. Anyway, the moral of the story is that I actually ran on an empty stomach which was a really BAD idea! Next time... fuel before my run! Oh, and when I left for my run, I was C.R.A.B.B.Y. (because I couldn't find my pedometer to keep my distance), but once again, after my run... crabbiness is gone! I heart running as a stress-reducer!

I think I downed about 32 oz of water, just on the car ride home! And when I got there, my hubby had made dinner. It was just ok, but he gets an "A" for effort. Actually, I'm the one who picked out the recipe, so it's kinda my fault. He just followed the recipe. At any rate, it was highly unsatisfying and I'm certain I'll find some dark chocolate and maybe even a bowl of homemade granola later. ;) Recipe to come!