Carrot Cake Breakfast Cupcakes

I got a new food processor for my birthday! And I love it. It is a 7 cupper, quiet and it pulverizes food about 90 billion times more effectively than my old 3-cup FP.

What did I not get for my birthday? A cake. Why? Because I'm a picky, picky lady. I obviously didn't want gluten, dairy, or eggs in the picture. And I also didn't want weird, unknown vegan and gluten free ingredients, such as gums, margarines, or other chemically produced shenanigans. I did want carrot cake. Because my momma always made me (each of us) cake for our birthday. And I always wanted carrot. Much to my older brother's dismay. So, my birthday present to you, carrot cake breakfast cupcakes with coconut cream, is a twist on a nostalgic favorite.

Cake Ingredients:
1 c almond meal/flour
1/2 c coconut flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
2 T diced crystallized ginger
1 T pumpkin purée
2 flax eggs
1/4 c honey
2 T melted coconut oil
1.5 cups grated carrots (about 6 carrots)
3/4 cup chopped pineapple (I thawed some frozen pineapple)

Topping Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk (not light)
1 tsp stevia
1 tsp cinnamon

First, the day before you want cupcakes. mix the topping ingredients in a container with a lid. Put it in the fridge. This will allow the cream from the coconut milk to rise to the top. If you have a high tolerance for frustration, you can try, multiple times, to skim the cream off the top and whip it into a fluffy topping. If you want to save your sanity, just skim and plop the cream on top of the cooled cupcake. I digress...

Now for the cake. Grate your carrots! It is a good thing I hate this part. Otherwise, I'd have carrot cake every week. What is that you say? The FP has a grating attachment? What a wonderful reason to make carrot cake more often!

Here we go, carrots! Cut them into similarly sized pieces.

It's working! Instant grater carrots.

Grated carrots in less than 3 minutes.

On a side note, organic carrots taste like a completely different product than conventional carrots. Reason number 204828375236420394 to buy organic.

Transfer carrots to a bowl. Mix in pineapple, flax eggs, coconut oil (melted!) pumpkin and honey.

In another bowl, mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, crystallized ginger.

Add the wet to the dry. Or the dry to the wet. And mix until blended. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Cool and top with coconut cream, as described above. If you are interested in sharing your cupcakes with your coconut-disliking, cream cheese loving husband, you can leave a few unfrosted so he can top his cupcake with another form of frosting.

Cream cheese (business) in the front. Coconut cream (party) in the back.

Up close and personal

Mmmmm. Happy belated birthday to ME!

I dubbed these "breakfast cupcakes" because again, they are healthy enough to eat for breakfast. At least on your birthday. And because the texture is closer to a muffin than a cupcake. I think omitting the pineapple might help. If you try it, let me know in the comments below.

Deep Dish Pizza Round TWO

Tuna and I managed a weekend without a trip to Mellow Mushroom, which has been a staple in our social agenda the past month or so. This left me with a craving, nay, a need, for pizza. I struggle to buy gluten free pizza dough mixes for two reasons. One, they all call for eggs. De-veganizing the pizza crust. Minus one point. Two, I am fundamentally opposed to baking mixes as a cooking staple. Sure, I've made a Funfetti cake or two (ten), particularly in a pinch, but baking mixes/boxes/pre-made doughs, etc take all the fun out of being in the kitchen!

I am determined to make a delicious gluten free, vegan pizza crust. And I've deemed deep dish my first endeavor. My first deep dish pizza was amazing. But a little crumbly. And a bit bland without the delicious toppings. With version two, I wanted to make a tasty and more pliable dough. No crumbles.The key changes were adding an egg substitute (in this case, pumpkin) and dried herbs. I tweaked the flour mixture a bit to use less oat flour too.

Ingredients:
1 cup of warm water (90-105 degrees)
1 packet of yeast
2 T honey
3/4 c sorghum flour
1 c oat flour
3 T potato starch
1/4 c + 3 T brown rice flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/4 c pumpkin purée
2 T oil (I used half melted coconut and half EVOO)
1 tsp Greek or Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
Pizza toppings- vegetables, meats, sauce, cheese, herbs, etc.

Mix water, yeast, and honey. Set aside for 5 minutes to let the yeast activate. It should look foamy.

Combine flours, potato starch, herbs, salt, and cornmeal. Once yeast is ready, add it to the flours along with the oil and the pumpkin puree. Mix with a dough hook or knead by hand for 6-10 minutes. I mixed the dough for 6 minutes because I am impatient.

Place dough in a baking pan coated with coconut oil or other oil. Let it rise in the oven for 6-8 hours. Again, my dough did not seem to rise or multiply. It is still TBD if this step is necessary.

Press into a 9 in round baking pan.

Top with favorite pizza toppings, then cheese, then sauce. Then extra cheese to ID the vegan side. I want a delicious pizza in my belly. Not a belly ache.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before cutting with a knife.

Is that not the most beautiful pizza you've ever seen?

Spillover sauce. What happens if you lack the patience for cooling.

Now that is a beautiful crust! Saving the best part for last.

The result? Amazing. Seriously. Make this for dinner ASAP. As you can see from the picture above, the crust is still somewhat textured. There is room for improvement. Next up? Cut the cornmeal (maybe dust the bottom only) and determine if the 6-8 hour rise time is needed. Who has the time for that anyways? And I may try a flax egg instead of pumpkin. Just to experiment with binders. As for you, get off your rump and make this pizza!

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Strawberry Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Ugh Monday morning! Why do I sleep until 8 AM on Sunday and then expect that 5 AM will feel just as springy on Monday. This week, I couldn't do it. I couldn't drag myself out of bed at 5 AM to then further torture myself on an elliptical or bike. I felt guilty by the time my last chance alarm went off at 6:40. You know the feeling.

All was made right with this smoothie. The smoothie tastes like a milkshake. Probably because it tasted like I should feel guilty eating it for breakfast. But as the ingredients indicate, there is no need to feel guilty. So I was twice cleansed of my guilt. And  quite proud for throwing this together on a groggy Monday morning and using leftover ingredients from yesterdays baking extravang-zah.

2 c coconut milk (left-over from thinking I was special and could whip "light" coconut milk. Don't do it. It doesn't work. You need the heavy stuff.)
5 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 c frozen fruit (I used bananas and raspberries)
1 scoop chocolate green or protein powder
1 T melted coconut oil mixed with 1 t chocolate powder (left over from yo Frisco)

All you have to do is mix it all in a blender. Or in a cup with an immersion blender. The melted oil/chocolate combo turns into tiny chocolate chunks when it combines with the cold fruit. It is amazing! Try it! You will be amazed!

Extra swirl of coconut milk on top. Don't mind if I do.

And no. I did not drink half the smoothie and then decide to take a picture. I put half of it in a mason jar for tomorrow, as per my own recommendation, thankyouverymuch.

Now, I do feel a bit of remorse that these pictures are pretty awful. I'll blame it on the Monday AM grog. You get the idea. No go try it!

Getting frisco-y

Place the top cookie and you've got yourself a Frisco.

What a difference a week can make! I'm halfway through my 2x/wk x 3 weeks of ART. I've had another PT evaluation. And, perhaps most news-worthy, I'm attempting another return to running number. Comeback number three. The new additions to my rehab include low-dye arch taping (below), ultrasound, and a tweak to my calf stretch to avoid compensatory eversion and keep my posterior tibialis happy.

I also have a better understanding of why my foot and ankle share the hurts. And have resolved to wear a shoe or tape (no bare feet) at all times until my foot pain is a distant memory.

I'm not getting my hopes up too high and I'm not going to be pushing the limits, but I am feeling good about this.

Wrinkles. What happens when you tape your own foot.

As expected, with the potential for running comes an increased loathing of cross training. So, Saturday I headed to Velocity Cycle Studio in Powell for a great 60-min spin class.The studio is in the back of a personal training gym and has about 8 bikes.  The class was great! Exactly what I needed to break up the monotony. The teacher warned us that interval training was on the menu. I wasn't intimidated. After one-song warm-up, the intervals set in. About halfway through song number two, my heart rate was high and I was thinking, "I am SO out of shape." But much to my surprise, without too much coaxing, almost naturally, my thoughts turned into "Wow, I haven't worked this hard in a while." My heart rate has stayed in the 150-160 range for most of this cross training quarter. It is no wonder why I felt uncomfortable when my HR was pushed near its maximum. I haven't training like this, via running or cross training in over three months! As I said, the class was great, but really the highlight of Saturday was this quick and subconscious change in mindset. Tayler has told me all along, "your foot is pissy for a reason." Maybe cross training will teach me something after all.

Enough mushy mush stuff. The real reason you visit this blog isn't to hear of my petty foot drama. It is for the food. Am I right? Today I set out to make another version of gluten free deep dish pizza and some carrot cake cupcakes to celebrate a belated birthday with... myself. I ended up with an extra flax egg. Not a bad problem to have. So I ended up making some peanut butter cookies. They reminded me of the peanut butter cookies at Pasquale's Italian Restaurant, specifically of the delicious cookie they use to make a Frisco. What is a Frisco, you ask? It is a Reese's Cup/Peanut Butter Blossom combo on steroids. More specifically, it is creamy peanut butter and melted  chocolate (that has solidified) smashed between TWO peanut butter cookies and drizzled with more  melted chocolate. It is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. And it will cost you about half the amount of dessert at any other restaurant. Needless to say, I have missed Pasquale's and their Frisco since going dairy/egg/gluten free. I have been meaning to recreate it, but hadn't made a peanut butter cookie worthy of the name. Until today.

Gluten free, vegan peanut butter cookie:

1/2 c oats
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 c coconut sugar
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/4 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/4 t vanilla
1/4 c non-dairy milk

1/4 c add ins, if desired- chocolate chips, raisins, peanuts, etc

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all ingredients. The peanut butter can be hard to blend in, so you may want to plan on being patient or just use a hand mixer. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Delicious vegan, gluten free peanut butter cookie

To make the Frisco-
1-2 T creamy peanut butter per person. I love Trader Joe's creamy.
melted chocolate (did you know Trader Joe's chocolate chips are vegan?) OR homemade vegan, loaded chocolate (recipe below)

Homemade vegan loaded chocolate:
Coconut oil
Chocolate greens powder (Barleans, Amazing Grass GreenSuperfood, etc)

Melt coconut oil and mix in chocolate greens powder. Put it in the fridge to harden 10-15 minutes. Melt ever so slightly again, if needed. You want the chocolate to be slippery enough to get out of the bowl but it can still be in hunks.

Melty and delicious vegan chocolate sauce.

To assemble to Frisco (first in words, then in pictures)

1. Turn your cookies upside down
2. Spread chocolate on the bottom of one cookie.
3. Spread peanut butter on top.
4. Add more chocolate on top of the peanut butter
5. Top with another cookie

Voila! Best dessert ever. And save the rest of that chocolate sauce for your Strawberry Chocolate Chip Milkshake. You'll be glad you did!

Running, you can be such a b*&$@.

Me and some of the girls (and guys) made the trip to the Windy City this weekend the Shamrock Shuffle 8k downtown. The race features an elite team competition with a big prize purse, and based on the results in past years, our team would've been right in the mix to bring home some cash.

You ever have an experience where you're just swimming against the stream the whole time? No matter what you do? Yep, that was my season opener. I had one of my best workouts earlier this week and had been feeling strong and fresh, and then on Sunday, I'm pretty sure someone traded my racing flats for cinder blocks.

I had a race plan; Coach and I talked mid-week about the smartest approach and execution. I've come to learn that we should never really expect anything to go exactly according to plan, and mental flexibility is necessary for success in any endeavor. So when the gun went off and I felt like a total piece of you-know-what, I knew that the plan was going to have to bend a little. Perfect execution: out the window. Here's my training log entry recapping how I felt and the accompanying thoughts:

4:30am: up to shake out and have breakfast. ate like an animal yesterday and still hungry like a crazy person this morning. i dont think i moved an inch from the time my head hit the pillow til the alarm, which, in retrospect, was not necessarily a good sign. felt god awful shaking out. i was hardly moving.

7:40am: rush to tent, get there later than i wanted, warmed up feeling pretty flat, resist asking Delilah for an autograph, throw the flats on, wait in line for bathroom, unknown man comes in and yells/announces that we have ten minutes til we have to be in our corral. I'm like "wait a minute, I thought we had until 8:20?" - which was ten minutes after he said we had to be roped in. went up to the corral to see that the only place to stride was a chunk of grass/sidewalk about 30 meters long. Did a couple and decided that it was worthless, said "fuck this" and ran outside and did 2 x 30 sec @ race pace, jog 30 sec. Hopped in the corral, stood around, examined tattoos, chit-chatted. 

Plan: Be conservative first 30% of the race, holding back aiming for 5:55-6:00 for the mile, and after 9 minutes or so, start hunting people down, and with a mile to go, haul ass for home. Negative split as big as possible.

Actual: Worse race reality, uh, ever, short of racing sick. Wasn't sick, but every step felt like it cost me what 3 normal steps should. went out in 6:04-5 and it felt like 5:35. I think "okay, you always feel better as workouts go along. Just hold out, you'll find a groove." Just tried to wait it out til I looked down and saw 9 minutes, and prayed that a change of rhythm would feel better. Tried to turn it over a little bit. People WERE starting to come back to me, some of the elite women, but mostly the stupid men in corral A who went out like idiots.

Hit 2 miles in 11:59ish. "Shit shit shit." About a half mile later, a girl in front of me stepped off the course. I wanted SO bad to follow and had to do some major major mental self-coaching. "You did NOT come all the way to Chicago to walk off the course. Steph is right behind you and you're going to fuck her over mentally if she sees you walk off." 

Keep going. "Put your eyes on that purple singlet." Girl looked REALLY familiar, but I don't know why I recognized her. Came up on her and ran beside her a little, gave her a little "Okay, let's move." She didn't come with but gave me a "good job." Miss the 5k mark-maybe a good thing, but maybe not. I was SURE I was running 7min pace a couple of times, but if I'd caught the 5k split I would've realized I wasn't really going backwards at all. I'm not sure I would've put a positive spin on that at that point in time, though. Hard to say.  Bounced between "holy shit, I'm dying" to "latch onto that singlet and cling. You're good at being annoyingly clingy."

Nick was at the 4 mile mark and I'm just wanting to die at this point. Goal went from hauling ass the last mile to just getting ass across the line. Clearly looked like shit because the only thing Nick could yell that was positive was "You're beating so many boys and I'm so proud of you!" I'm thinking "I don't give a SHIT about the boys, it's the women I want to be beating!" 

Didn't get a 4 mile split because honestly it would've required too much energy to look down, and I was going to need all the forward momentum I could get to get home. The one good thing about the last mile was that women WERE dying, so I had caught a couple from 4-4 1/2. Pretty much the only thing on my mind was how far I had to go once I crossed the bridge and U-turned for home. Remembered Brandon said 400 to go once you crest the hill on the bridge. Caught 2 women going up that hill, wanted to die hardcore, and then tried to not be going backward in the stretch. Pretty sure the only reason I didn't was because it was downhill. Clicked my watch at 29:57, but I haven't even looked at the official chip time yet, partly because I don't want to see team results and realize that if I'd had a decent race we would've been in the hunt for some $$.

Mile 4 deathwish

Kinda felt like I was running through sand the whole time. Honestly, if I had felt like that and run a crazy-fast out-of-my-mind race, I'd say that's probably what it needed to feel like, but yeah, not a time like that. Now laughing because I really did shuffle at Shamrock. Literally laughing out loud. Ahhhh. Running, you can be such a bitch!

There were probably a few more f*&!'s in sprinkled throughout that profanity potpourri, but you get the idea. I updated Liz post-race; she of course was very positive and encouraged me to take it as a learning experience at the very least. I'm still fuming, and of course I deem the race as just a giant clusterf*&$. Three days later, I'm still rehashing, but even that same afternoon after talking things over with both Liz and Coach, I started to take a few lessons away from it:

• I negative split the race even though I felt like I was going backward the whole time. Just because you feel like complete and utter shit doesn't mean you're necessarily running that bad.
• I wanted to quit. A lot. Multiple times. I'm totally willing to hurt, but there better be a reason for it. Hurting like hell to run slow is a double whammy. Runners aren't masochists; we like pain most usually only because it means we'll be rewarded fast times and good races. I learned I can hate every step of the way and keep going forward anyway.
• I don't travel well. Driving the day before an important race is the least ideal transportation situation for me, and I will avoid it at all costs in the future.
• I can't worry about everything and take care of myself the way I need to. As much as I hate the idea, I indeed have limits, and trying to exceed them will bite me in the ass. Hard. 8000 meters' worth.
• Holding my shit together is exhausting. I hadn't gotten too down on myself about the race and had tried like hell to brush it off, but I found myself sobbing like a baby replying to a simple email from Coach outlining the next month's training. I was just tired. After I leaked the tears, it was like someone pulled the gorilla off my back...and like I'd gotten stung by a bunch of bees and had a puffy-eye allergic reaction. Lovely.

I'm sure I'll add to that list as time passes still. Meanwhile, I'm eatin' on that sauce. No, not that sauce. This one. You can find the recipe over on Momma Pea's blog and had to make it. Follow suit. You won't be mad. I drowned a stirfry of spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, and shiitake mushrooms in it. Winner winner tofu dinner.

Know thyself. And thy food.

I'm on the brink of week 13. Week 13 off from running. But also, week 13 free from dairy, gluten, and eggs. Except for a brief "challenge" with each. Banishing dairy, questioning eggs, and tabling gluten for a while.

So far, this year has been one extended learning experience. Suffice it to say, I did not envision 2012 panning out like this. The cleanse/food challenge was part of my 2012 plan. A resolution, really. To figure out what foods my body disliked. Although it was extraordinarily difficult for the first 4-6 weeks, I consider eliminating dairy the biggest success of the challenge.

The initial weeks of any big change are hard. For me, this was compounded when plantar fasciitis brought my running goals and training plans to a screeching halt four days before my dietary overhaul was set to begin. As I was introducing a new challenge (food elimination/testing), my outlet, my hobby, my social network had been taken away. It has been a very trying 13 weeks. Soul searching meets identity crisis. Lactose intolerance isn't the only thing I have learned. Here's a few of the high-lights.

1. I can wake up much earlier than I ever thought I could manage if it means getting in a workout (cross training). If I can set my alarm to 5:06 to get up and go to the pool when the temperature outside is <20 degrees, I can certainly wake up at least this early for a morning run. Duly noted.

2. I have improved my body awareness. I attribute this to swimming and strength training. I have a significant muscle imbalance right vs. left in my core and hips, despite diligently attacking these the past 12 weeks. I think this improved awareness has better helped me to understand compensatory motor patterns (something which the nerd in me loves) because I am living them. I'm doing many of the same exercises I prescribe for my kids.

3. I've learned to make better decisions about what I'm eating. The biggest dietary changes I've had to make in the past 13 weeks is eating less. Wait, should I not have said that? Try not to freak out. It is the truth and it's common sense. In order to fuel running 75-100 miles per week, most runners are eating all the time. I was. At 75+ miles per week, more often than I care to admit, I ended up eating the most accessible food. Now, cross training 60-90 minutes per day, I still get hungry. But it is different. It is similar to the plummet in hunger related to a marathon taper. But still different. After a longer cross training am workout, I still feel needs-immediate-attention hunger. But, if I treat that hunger the same as post-long run hunger, usually eating 2-3 spoonfuls of nut butter or a few handfuls of trail mix while waiting for last nights leftover's to heat up in the microwave, by the time the microwave timer sounds with my lunch, I'm not hungry anymore. My previous breakfast of a choice, a PB& banana sandwich (now on gluten free bread) has become hard to finish. And if I eat a 200-250 calorie fruit/nut bar when 10 AM hunger inevitably strikes, I'm not hungry for lunch at noon. This whole need for hunger management is a bit of a shock. I'm used to eating all the time. But I have found that my behaviors have adapted, almost subconsciously. One of the adaptations has been liquid breakfast. I think the calorie content is probably pretty similar, but by subbing in a fruit and almond milk smoothie for a sandwich at breakfast, I'm ready to eat at my scheduled mealtimes (which are very scheduled) without breakthrough hunger.

One of my new favorite, super-quick breakfasts is a two-ingredient blend of two of my new favorite products. So Delicious Coconut Kefir and Barlean's Chocolate Silk Greens. The greens are actually a cocoa-colored powder and come with a scoop! So I scoop some chocolaty goodness into a mason jar (recycled), pour in the Kefir, cover, and shake like mad. Top it with a bendy straw and you've got yourself a morning. I've also blended it with a banana and/or peanut butter when I have the extra 30 seconds to dig out my immersion blender. Put it in the freezer and oh dear. Dairy what?

And, yes I bought a package of bendy straws which I realize completely cancels out the recycled mason jar. However, the straw is a mood booster, something which I have needed many of this winter. It is like having an umbrella in your drink on the beach. Plus, the decrease in questionable gazes suggest that I look slightly less like a crazy person when drinking out of a jar with a straw vs without.

Bottom line: Whether you're running 100 miles a week or eating in your car between meetings. Think about what you're eating. Avoid decisions based on accessibility. Prepare for hunger. Stock your desk full of healthful snacks. Jar up some smoothies for the week on Sunday afternoon. Your body and brain are working hard. Reward them with fuel.

Fess-up Friday: Guilty Pleasures

I'm keeping my own words to a minimum today; the guilty pleasure this week is the cute boy who works in the coffee shop in my building. Ogling him has been much of the reason why I have been low on concentration while I sit working while sipping my morning coffee. Today, though, I did actually manage to keep my eyes from wandering long enough to read this paragraph from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Compensation."

And yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable. But the sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts. The death of a dear friend, a wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius, for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character. It  permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances or and the reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to the next years; and the man or woman who remained a sunny garden-flower, which no room for its roots and too much sunshine for its head, by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener is made the banian of the forest, yielding shade and fruit to the wide neighborhoods of men.