Coffee Sugar Cookies

Coffee Sugar Cookies

A new recipe that I found and we absolutely loved!

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/4 C. Coconut Sugar

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Pure Maple Syrup (I used Simply Balanced)

3 scoops Protein Powder (I used vanilla flavor)

1 spoonful Ground Flax Seed

2 TBSP. Ground Coffee

1 stick of Organic Unsalted Butter

1/2 C. Full Fat Greek Yogurt (I used Stonyfield)

Bake @ 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

Macros for one cookie:

23gC/6.5gP/6gF

The original recipe called for two sticks of butter but I used 1/2 C. greek yogurt for substitute, I think next time I will try 1 C. greek yogurt instead of any butter and see if they are still as delicious! 

They're a yummy treat when you're in the baking mood and the little bit of coffee flavor makes it all the more better!

If you try them, let me know what you think and if you make any other tweaks to the recipe :) 

Healthier Muffins!!

I love when I find healthier recipes for desserts I love!

I really enjoy baking, but only do it on occasion because it is hard having that stuff in the house at all times. 

I found this recipe last year sometime on Pinterest, I've made it a few times and I LOVE it!

Healthier Applesauce Oat Muffins

1 3/4 C. Coconut Flour

1 C. quick cooking oats

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 C. Coconut Sugar

1 C. Coconut oil, melted

2 eggs

1/4 C. Full fat Greek Yogurt

1 C. Organic Applesauce

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder -- (I added this to the recipe)

Whisk together flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. 

In a different bowl, cream together sugar and oil by hand.

Add in eggs and mix. 

Stir in yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla.

Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Bake at 425 for 3 minutes then turn the oven to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 17-18 minutes. 

I definitely recommend these if you have a sweet tooth and don't want to go too far off your meal plan!

Let me know if you do give them a shot :) 

Yoga

This morning I woke up and wanted to do some yoga to start my day.

I need a video or instructor to guide me with yoga, I cannot just do it on my own. So I have The Biggest Loser: Weight Loss Yoga

Bob Harper coaches throughout the entire DVD.  He also has a group of people doing it with him who are all at different strength levels- which helps and shows variations of the same exercise. There is a warm up, three workouts, and a cool down. Each workout is a little different. One is yoga beginner, one is yoga, pilates, abs, and the other one is yoga strength training. Today, I did the warm up, the yoga-pilates-abs, the yoga strength training and then the cool down. I was sweating and tired afterwards! 

I did really enjoy the yoga strength training. It uses light weights (I used 5lbs) while you're doing yoga poses. Even with just 5lbs my arms were on fire. 

I love yoga, it is a great workout but yet relaxing and soothing. I love that I can do it in the comfort of my own home. 

I read an article on the benefits of yoga and it was pretty interesting. One of the benefits they went over was boosting immunity- the more you breath better, circulate better, move better, everything else starts working better. Another one was it reduces migraines- which I need all the help I can get with those! Migraines are the worst, my family and I get them quite a bit and it literally ruins your day. Lastly, routine yoga practices mindful eating on a regular basis and sleeping sounder at night.

There are plenty more benefits of yoga, but it is definitely something that I want to start doing a few times a week to just have a chance to relax and wind down. 

:)

Sundays Should Be For Lazy Days and Pizza

From my previous post, I mentioned the German restaurant we went to last night- well I took a picture to show it, I substituted the mashed potatoes for extra veggies to make it a bit healthier--

It was so nummy!

We started our morning off with a run/walk along Lake Avenue, it was very chilly this morning that is for sure- so of course we had to warm up with a medium black coffee from Starbucks...mmm

Dillon and I had to make the trip back up to Bemidji today, its a long four hours. We stopped in St. Cloud at Barnes and Noble because he needed a book for class- so obviously I went into the health and fitness section and wanted a good read... Well I found this

I am going to start it tonight and I'll update you all on what I think!

So Sundays should be for lazy days a pizza... and that's just what we did when we got back. We have so many shows to catch up on (Bates Motel, Blacklist, Swamp people, Berring Sea Gold, The Voice...just to name quite a few haha) and we ordered pizza from a local pizza place. It is delicious and I won't give up pizza every now and then-  because everything in moderation. But I am really excited to hit the gym hard this week, I have three short runs and then an 8 miler on Saturday morning. My goal for weight lifting this week is to increase my weight a little more with less reps. 

Alright well there is my novel for the day, check back this week though for some fun posts to come :)

Weekend at Home

Who doesn't love a weekend at home?!

I am having such a wonderful time back in my hometown of White Bear Lake. Yesterday, we (my mom, step dad, sister, Dillon, and I) started our morning off at Tri Fitness with an hour long circuit class.... it definitely kicked our butts! We did a lot of core exercises and then at the end we were put into 3 teams of 3 and each team had a treadmill and the first team to 1 mile won- it was pretty fun! I have also had the chance to visit one of my best friends, my great grandma, she is 97 years young and still one of the sharpest women I know! 

Today, I experienced my first time at a Trader Joes. I've heard such great things about it and wanted to try it out. I ended up getting some already hard boiled peeled eggs, reduced guilt chicken salad, reduced guilt egg salad with chives, banana chips, TJ multigrain crackers, and a couple other little things. It was so so busy in there and would definitely want to go there again when it's less busy to actually look at EVERYTHING! Also, introduced my sister into Quest Bars.. so we made a trip to the Vitamin Shoppe and she got some chocolate chip cookie dough ones- still my favorite! 

We also tried Wich Wich, a sandwich restaurant for lunch. I just had a turkey sandwich with a bunch of veggies. Brenna had a chicken pesto sandwich and Dillon had a cheesesteak. They were all so delicious and I would definitely recommend Wich Wich!

Tonight, we are celebrating my dads birthday at one of our family favorite restaurants, The Gasthaus- it is a german restaurant and it is amazing. I usually enjoy the rahm putin schnitzel, which is chicken with a gravy sauce over it (I ask for it on the side) with veggies and mashed potatoes. I cannot wait! 

Ooo and I've been able to cuddle with my love bugs all weekend too, these puppies have my heart and I love them so much

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend so far!

Why Another Half Marathon?

Two years ago, I decided to run my first ever half marathon with my mom, step dad and two of my aunts. We all signed up for the Get Lucky Half Marathon in the Twin Cities, MN. 

At the time, I was exercising with my mom (walking, biking, jogging) and then 1-2 times a week we would go to the Tri Fitness circuit class. I can only say good things about Tri Fitness and the classes they offer there. The classes are amazing- definitely hard and the next couple days you can't walk or move but it is so rewarding when you start to see your muscles growing!

Although I was exercising, my half marathon training slacked- BIG time. At the time, I was in Dental Assisting school and my boyfriend had just left for Europe for two months. I was stressed and overwhelmed and simply put off the training. Which I would never recommend. 

The day of the half, we all got our gear on and headed downtown. It was absolutely freezing that day, which just doesn't help anything! My nerves were uncontrollable because I knew I did not train and had never even ran over 4 miles before! (Stupid, I know!) The race began, and I was able to run about 4 miles and I had to walk. From there on out I switched off running and walking the rest of it. Thankfully I had such a wonderful support system with me- my mom and step dad. Even though they could have kept going and ran the whole thing, they stayed by my side pushing and motivating me to finish. I was so relieved to cross that finish line after approximately 3 hours and in so much pain. My feet had hurt so bad, I remember having like 4 huge blisters on my feet when I got home. My lungs were not prepared for the cold weather and the long distance. My legs felt like rubber. Literally everything hurt. I couldn't even walk down the stairs in my house for the rest of the day. 

Now, two years brighter and smarter I want to try and run another half marathon with a lot better training. I started my training in January 2015 and my race is August 2015. My runs started slowly and have progressively got harder and longer. A couple weeks ago, I ran 7 miles- never ever would I have imagined I could do that! 

I can't wait to see how this half will go with actually putting in the hard work, dedication, and time into training. 

This is the only picture we all took together that day and it is definitely from BEFORE the race. From the left is my mom, step dad, me, my aunt Diane and in the middle my aunt Sharron. Yes she's got a silly face but that's only because she was focusing too much on trying to push the button for the picture... she's adorable :)

Here's to a better half this year!

Sunday Funday

I hope everyone had a great weekend... I know I did! 

My sister, Amanda, and her boyfriend Justin (whom is also Dillon's brother) came up to visit us this weekend! We started it off with a great workout- 16 minutes of intervals on the treadmill and then squats and arms in the weight room! Let's just say we all woke up VERY sore. After that we went to dinner (celebrating Justin's birthday) at The Chophouse- one of our favorite restaurants. I got a burger with mushrooms, onions, piece of swiss cheese with no bun with Gorgonzola slaw- it was amazing! 

We did bring them to Chocolates Plus before they left, well because its wonderful. We ended up getting some chocolate covered caramels and red jellybeans- everything in moderation, right? 

I got a call from my other sister, Brenna today which was so nice. I cannot wait to see her and the rest of my family/puppies this weekend for my dad's birthday! 

Dillon and I then went to the gym just to move around since we were so sore. I went on the stair master for 25 minutes and my legs were burning, of course the good kind of burn! 

I also did a little bit of meal prepping today- the recipe is Wild Rice Meatballs from Nutritional Weight and Wellness cookbook. 

 I use lean ground turkey instead of ground beef. I also decided to add 1 Wasa Cracker: Light Rye

 

I love having these on hand- they're easy and delicious! 

:)

It's Finally Friday

It's finally Friday, we can all relax! 

Well I don't know about all of you but I have a love/hate relationship with rest days. I love them because that's where the magic happens with muscle gains. I hate them because I literally want to eat, eat, eat and be the most laziest person ever. 

After two rest days, we went to the gym today. My running schedule only had me run 15 minutes for a total of 1.2 miles and then a whole body workout in the weight room. I was able to cut a minute and a half off the run by increasing my pace (YAY)! Also, a thank you to rest days because although my run was short today - it was one of the best runs, my breathing was spot on and my legs felt great!

I also did what's known as cleans in the weight room today (I just found out that was the name for those like two weeks ago, haha). I decided getting stronger at these is going to be one of my goals over the next few months. 

After all that, Erbert and Gerberts was definitely in my future... and it was delicious! Even better it fit my macros! Woo!

Until next time -

definitely new to blogging

hello everyone!

this is my first blog post and I am going to just let you in on my journey so far. I am 22 years young and am working as a Licensed Dental Assistant. I have an amazing family and a wonderful boyfriend, I could seriously go on for days about how much these people mean to me. 

Anyway, on to my journey of introducing better nutrition and fitness into my life. I had gained probably 15-20 pounds within the last year and half or so. I had been wanting to make a change, I knew had to do something in order to be happy with myself. 

I had came across a family friends IG account and she had inspired me from head to toe. I contacted her through FB messenger for information, tips, nutrition ideas etc. She was so happy to help and messaged me back and forth for what seemed like a few days! She then introduced me to IIFYM (if it fits your macros) - basically you calculate personally for your body the amount of calories, carbs, proteins, and fats that you need to sustain for the day. So I calculated my numbers that came to 140.3C, 156.6P, 69.6F. The first week or so were a little difficult only because you have to weigh all your food and record it. For the first couple weeks I kept a journal that I recorded everything I ate and any workouts I did and how I felt that day. When IIFYM became easier for me, I just kept track of my macros when I entered everything into MFP (My Fitness Pal app). 

I also decided to start training for a half marathon after talking with my friend above ^. I ran my first half in March of 2013, I did not train well at all and it took over 3 hours for me to finish. I was lucky to have a great support system running with my that day to help me through it. That is why I want to try again! I texted my sisters, Amanda and Brenna right away to see if they would want to train with me. Nervous for their response I was greatly surprised when both of them said YES! 

8 weeks into training and I have accomplished long distance runs that I never thought I would be able to do! I have also got into weight lifting but I will save those details for another blog post :) 

Now that is it for my first novel, 

until next time :)