Clean treats are the best sweet treats!

We all love sweets, even if you say you're not a sweet lover YOU'RE A LIAR ;) I for one would choose to eat sweets over a real meal......yeah its that bad, haha. I'm human, I crave something sweet all of the time (okay more like every day). Its hard sometimes when you're trying to eat clean but you want that cookie or brownie......and I'm not saying not to because everything in moderation is okay, but if you could make clean desserts, wouldn't that be so much better?!

Raw Brownie Truffles

• 2 tbs. cacao powder
• 4 dates, pitted 
• 1 tbs. unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tbs. natural almond butter
• Raw Stevia (optional)

Directions:

1. Blend everything in a food processor
2. Roll into balls

Black Bean Brownies

• 1 can low sodium black beans, drained
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 2 tbs. agave 
• 1/4 cup oats
• 2 bananas (you can definitely taste the bananas so if you're not a fan substitute for apple sauce)
• 1 tbs. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. organic chocolate extract
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 full droplet of liquid chocolate Stevia
• 1/2 bar of 100% cacao bakers chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Place everything in a food processor except the chopped bakers chocolate 
2. Blend until batter is smooth
3. Fold in chopped chocolate 
4. Pour batter into a 9x9 baking dish (I made thinner ones caus I couldn't find my pan)
5. Bake at 350 for 12-15 min

What you will need

Blend everything togeher

Fresh out of the oven

Boom, Brownies!

Yes, pizza can be clean :)

I've done a ton of experimenting with different ways to make pizza.....I don't just mean toppings, I'm talking crust and all! Sure you can buy a pre-made dough but why do that when you can make a delicious CLEAN one?! A lot of the pizza crusts that I've made have fallen apart or haven't been very appetizing. But tonight I finally made one that was delicious, crunchy and held together with all the toppings on top!!! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did :) Who says you cant enjoy pizza while eating clean?!?!

 BBQ Chicken-Veggie Pizza

 First you want to start by getting some of this. Its gluten & fat free, low in calories, sodium and sugar. Its delicious, comes in 2 flavors and is organic!

Once your crust is done (recipe down below) you'll spread the BBQ sauce on top

Then add your chopped zucchini 

A layer on tomato

Mmmmmm Mushrooms

Top it off with shredded chicken, goat cheese and jalapenos.

Place under the broiler for around 5 min or until the cheese get bubbly & veggies are cooked

BOOM ahhhhhmazing pizza!!!!

Proof it holds together ;)

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• Mrs. Dash extra spicy seasoning 
• Mrs. Dash chicken seasoning
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs. water

Directions:

1. Place dry ingredients in a food processor, blend until oats become a flour
2. Add the egg and water (the dough will be tough and easy to work with)
3. Spread the dough out on parchment paper on a baking pan
4. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the crust
5. Bake at 350 for 5 min
6. Turn oven up to 450, flip the crust and bake for another 5-7 min
7. Take out and remove one layer of parchment paper
8. Top with toppings

Meal Prepping 101

I always hear people say how they don't have "time" to eat healthy. I get it people are busy and its hard to prepare fresh healthy meals everyday.......but if you're prepared it wouldn't be so hard to eat clean! I to am  very busy...... I'm a full time student in culinary school, going through a certification program to be a personal trainer, work part time, go to the gym 6 days a week and still find the time to eat clean!!!! I like to eat fresh meals everyday so I only pack my meals that I know I'm going to be gone for (which is a lot of them unfortunately).

Sundays are my days to pretty much get everything I need done for the week, this includes cooking a lot of my food. Now like I said I like fresh meals so on Sunday I figure out what I want to be eating throughout the week and then cook the items that take the longest to prepare (like a lot of my proteins or carbs). I wash and cut up my veggies, put snacks together and for the mornings I know I don't have time to make breakfast, I make overnight oats. If I know I'll be gone all day I'll pack my meals for that day that way I just grab them and go & can have NO EXCUSE not to eat clean! This also helps with cravings because instead of browsing through the pantry or fridge to find something to eat I know I already have stuff cooked and ready for me.

I make different things each week so I don't get bored of my food. I like to BBQ, roast, bake, cook stove top, slow cook, pretty much anyway of cooking. Marinades and spice rubs are great to get different flavors. I also like to buy ground turkey because I can do so much with it (burgers, tacos, meatballs, breakfast burritos). This week I decided to make shredded enchilada chicken, spaghetti with 97/3 ground beef & mushrooms, 97/3 ground beef burger patties, egg white turkey muffins (snacks) and some maple cinnamon apple oatmeal bread for my pre-workout meal throughout the week!

Shredded Enchilada Chicken

• 4 chicken breast
• 1/2 can low sodium medium red enchilada sauce
• 1/2 small jar low sodium salsa

Directions:

1. Add everything in a slow cooker and let cook
2. Shred once done

Spaghetti With Ground Beef And Mushrooms

• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 large roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbs. Italian seasoning
• 1 tbs. chili flakes
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• a couple dashes of tapatio 
• 12 oz 97/3 lean ground beef
• 8-10 cremini mushrooms, sliced

Directions:

1. Sweat carrots and celery with oil (you can add onions too, I just cant have onion)
2. Add garlic and tomatoes, cook for about 5 min or until tomatoes get mushy
3. Use a immersion blender to mix everything up
4. Add seasonings, cover and let simmer
5. In a separate pan cook beef, once done add to sauce
6. Place mushrooms in pan and sweat, add to pot once cooked
7. Let simmer on low for 20-30 min 

Makes 6 muffins

Egg White Turkey Muffins

• 4oz ground extra lean trukey
• Liquid egg whites
• 4 pieces turkey bacon, chopped
• Mrs. Dash seasoning (any kind)

Directions:

1. Cook turkey and turkey bacon in a pan with seasoning 
2. Place in a sprayed muffin pan 
3. Top with egg whites
4. Bake at 350 until they look puffy and are tough to the touch

The recipe makes 6 pieces

Maple-Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Bread

• 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups liquid egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. maple extract
• 2 full droplets of liquid Stevia
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 apple, diced small

Directions:

1. Combine everything and bake at 350 until a tooth pick comes out clean

And then I made a burrito with that shredded chicken for dinner :)

Mmmmmmmmm!

Sunday Breakfast!

I look forward to Sundays all week because of 2 reasons.......1, its my rest day (which is much needed) & 2, I actually have time to spend making a good breakfast! I usually go for pancakes, because I LOVE pancakes, but every now and then I like to switch it up and make something different. I happen to also LOVE waffles! Just like pancakes I like to experiment with my waffles and make different kinds, I've made some really great one and also ones that have fallen apart on me :/ However today I made some amazing ones!!!!! :D

I topped mine with microwaved banana, almond butter, strawberries & wf pancake syrup

Maple-Coffee Waffles

• 1/2 cup oat flour (I blend regular oats with my bullet)
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. coffee extract
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 full droplet of liquid Stevia
• 1 tbs. wf maple syrup 
• 1/4 microwaved banana
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

1. Mix everything with a hand mixer
2. Cook in a waffle maker
3. Top with whatever you like!

Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies!!

Who doesnt LOVE peanut butter cookies???? Especially when theyre healthy & low carb! I may have eaten all of these in one sitting :) hahaha oopsssssss

This is the consistency you want after mixing all the ingredients

I made mini cookies so I got 14 out of the batter!

Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/4 cup of peanut flour
• 2 tbs. coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 full droplet of liquid stevia
• 1 tbs. nut butter (I used Nutzo)
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 microwaved banana

Directions:

1. Mix everything with a fork until it becomes the consistency of cookie dough 
2. Place in the freezer for 5 min to harden up a bit (this will make it easier to handle)
3. Scoop out and cook on a sprayed cookie sheet
4. Bake at 350 for 5-7 min or until desired texture

April & May Carb Cycling

I get asked a lot about what my "diet" looks like, or when I eat, or what I eat. Its hard to always give a direct answer because I don't really eat the same thing every day. I do eat at the same times and I follow some guidelines depending on what MY goals are. I also don't like to tell someone to much because what MY goals and needs are might be different then YOURS.

For those of you that don't know, I've currently undergone a certification program to become a personal trainer. I'm also going to culinary school full time......not to become a chef in some restaurant, but to learn different techniques and products to cook. I want to eventually be a personal trainer that can also set up a whole meal plan (recipes and all) for my clients. Now I would LOVE to do this right now but being a full time student, working part time and also taking a certification program to be a PT leaves me with pretty much zero free time :/ However I would still like to help in any way I can!

For the past 2 months I've removed gluten, dairy, whole eggs, caffeine, all supplements and some fruits & veggies. If your unaware why please visit my post Fodmap Diet. I wouldn't say I've been "bulking" but I've been eating carbs regularly and eating a lot different then I usually would. I'm also getting all my nutrients from whole food sources. As far as training, I'm only doing cardio 3 days a week, weight training 6 days and 1 rest day. I've been focusing on getting bigger so I'm doing less reps with more weight, its unbelievable how strong I've gotten in only 2 months! I want my muscles to continue to grow but it seems I've come to a plateau.....so with that being said I've decided to start carb cycling again. Starting April 1st my diet will change and so will my training, I'm going to continue it for 2 months, so until June 1st.

Carb cycling isnt for everyone and I don't suggest you do it to just "loose weight". If you want to loose weight you need well balanced clean meals. If you don't know what carb cycling is you can Google it. But basically its when you rotate the amount of carbs you have each day (low, moderate, high). You would determine if its a low, moderate or high day by your training. Rest days would be low, smaller muscles would be moderate & larger muscles (leg day) would be a high carb day. You would do this as a way to maximize fat loss while maintaining the ability to perform high-intensity exercise. Then on your high carb days you would refeed your muscles. What happens during a refeed is you would change your diet to comprise mostly complex carbohydrates, limiting dietary fats as well as sucrose and fructose. Since the glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are depleted, these carbohydrates go straight to refilling them, instead of being added to the body's fat stores. For this reason, the amount of calories consumed during a refeed can be far above an individual's usual dietary intake.

Everyone has a different opinion on what carb cycling is, a lot of people weigh out all their food and count every carb, protein and fat. I'm not cutting to compete so I wont be that strict. I know what I need and portion sizes, so if I stick that that i'll be just fine. I'm also keeping all of the foods that I've removed from my diet out of my new plan. I'll slowly add some fruits, veggies & whole eggs back to see if I can handle them but for the most part I'm continuing with the Fodmap approved foods. I will also be including protein powder back into my diet but just before bed, and only lactose friendly.

I made a basic eating & training plan according to my work and school schedule (this is what works for ME). Click here for my Meal plan. Ill also be switching up my training so it wont necessarily stay like this.

 

Training Schedule

• Monday- Back, Biceps (am)
• Tuesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Quads, hamstrings, calvs (pm)
• Wednesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Shoulders, Traps (pm)
• Thursday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Abs, Yoga (pm)
• Friday- Triceps, Biceps (am)
• Saturday- Glutes, hamstrings (am)
• Sunday- 20 min steady cardio, Abs (am), Active rest

Monday- Moderate
Tuesday- High
Wednesday- Moderate
Thursday- Low
Friday- Moderate
Saturday- High
Sunday- Low

Goals:

1. Only 1 tbs. all natural nut butter/day
2. Cardio 4 days a week
3. Eat fish once a day
4. Have 1 cheat meal per week
5. Focus on more reps and lighter weight but still increasing weight
6. Keep portions small
7. Continue to "eat the rainbow"

Oatmeal Cookie Blueberry Pancakes

I've really been craving cookies for some reason and oatmeal cookies are one of my favorites! At first I just thought of doing a oatmeal bake so it would have a cake like texture, but its pancake Sunday, which means I HAVE TO cook pancakes :) Duh! So that's what I did.......

I topped these with some microwaved blueberries and WF pancake syrup. THEN......I dipped them in almond butter and banana ;) Such a perfect combination!

Oatmeal Cookie Blueberry Pancakes

• 3/4 cup of oat flour (I just blend up my oats)
• 2 tbs. almond flour
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• 1 tbs. ground flax seed
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 full droplet of vanilla sweet cream liquid Stevia
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/2 banana
• 1 date, pitted
• Blueberries

Directions: 

1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
2. Blend together almond milk, 1/2 banana & the date until everything is smooth
3. Using a hand mixer mix together the milk mix along with the 
4. rest of the ingredients, except the blueberries
5. Pour onto a non stick cooking pan, add blueberries while cooking
6. Flip and continue cooking until desired texture 

Fodmap Approved Salsa Verde Chicken-Veggie Enchiladas

Being on the Fodmap map diet as made my food selection very limited. I've had to give up a lot of my favorite foods :( But hey that has made me that much more determined to come up with delicious recipes! So that means no dairy, no gluten, whole eggs or a lot of other things.

Now lets talk enchiladas.......they're my FAVORITE! :D They are also filled with things I cant have :/ So I've come up with a recipe to accommodate  They are packed with protein, veggies and deliciousness! Did I also mention that they're LOW CARB?!?! So lets review..... they are gluten, egg, dairy free......and low carb. Sounds good to me :)

First we should start by making the homemade Salsa Verde :) Now since onions & garlic are a couple of the foods I can't have on the Fodmap diet I had to leave them out of the recipe. If you however want to add garlic and onion be my guest, its just as delicious without though ;)

FOOD PORN 

Salsa Verde

• 1 bag or about 25-30 tomatillos
• 2 jalapenos (it wont be to spicy i promise)
• a handful of cilantro
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 2 limes, juiced
• Sea salt, to taste
• 1 tbs. olive oil

Directions:

1. Cote tomatillos and 1 jalapeno with olive oil
2. Broil until they begin to blister and char
3. Blend everything in a food processor  

Then we need to make the "tortilla" that you'll use for the enchiladas. They are super simple and only require 3 ingredients........

Low Carb "Tortilla"

• 3/4 cup egg whites
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• Mrs. Dash spicy seasoning 

Directions:

1. Blend everything together
2. Cook on a small non-stick pan. Roll the mix in the pan so it creates a thin layer (you wont need to flip them). You should get 2 tortillas from the batter

Salsa Verde Chicken-Veggie Enchiladas

• 2 low carb "tortillas"
• Salsa Verde sauce (as much as you like)
• 1/2 grilled red bell pepper
• 1/2 grilled zucchini
• 1/2 grilled poblano pepper
• 2 tbs. nutritional yeast
• 4-5 oz shredded chicken

Directions:

1. Chop veggies into small bites, add to a bowl along with chicken & nutritional yeast
2. Add a couple tablespoons to the bowl and mix well
3. Fill your "tortillas" with the mix, roll up & top with more Salsa Verde
4. Bake at 350 for 15 min or until done
5. Top with more warm Salsa Verde (I also added hot sauce on top)