Salted Caramel Pumpkin Seeds

As established in my previous entry, I will gladly consume anything that contains pumpkin, but I've never eaten a pumpkin seed in my life. Until today, that is.

People have always raved about pumpkin seeds. I've even had people request the seeds from the pumpkins I've carved in the past. The thought of eating a pumpkin seed has just always seemed so unnatural to me. Until I found a recipe for Salted Caramel Pumpkin Seeds. At that point I was sold.

This past Wednesday, Zach and I visited a pumpkin patch at a local church and bless him for being so patient and so willing to put up with my indecisiveness because I think he picked up and moved at least ten (large) pumpkins in order for me to do side by side comparisons. In all fairness, it was his idea, but we eventually found our perfect pumpkins and then we carved them this weekend.

Zach is one of the people that has always raved to me about (his) pumpkin seeds. So it was already determined that we'd be making them. After carving the pumpkins, we washed the seeds and set them out to dry overnight.

And here is all you need to make them yourself!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and pat dry

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Nonstick cooking spray

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon each, brown sugar and granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix sugar, and cinnamon. Add seeds and toss to coat evenly. Spread on the baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake seeds until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Stir in sugars and salt; cook until deep golden brown, 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in seeds; coat with buttery caramel mixture and cook an additional minute. Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

(The original recipe called for nutmeg and ginger, but we opted to leave that out and I can honestly say I don't miss those flavors.) 

These turned out so great and I can honestly say that, even though it still feels a little unnatural to eat them, I understand the hype around pumpkin seeds....or maybe it's the salted caramel aspect of these seeds because who doesn't love anything salted caramel? 

Oh, and here are our finished pumpkins :) 

Pumpkin Spice Protein Pancakes

Every year I look forward to fall more and more. Cooler temps, boots, football, changing leaves, soups, and pumpkin, especially pumpkin. Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin cupcakes....you name it, anything with pumpkin is sure to please. But let's be honest, one can't make a stop at Dunkin Donuts every morning for one of their pumpkin donuts. Ok, one could, one might even want to, but it would not be conducive to preserving one's waistline. So what is one to do?

Last fall I discovered this recipe for pumpkin spice protein pancakes. They're super easy to make, super healthy and loaded with protein, and even better, they really quite tasty. Turns out, you CAN have your pumpkin spice goodness and eat it, too.

When I make this recipe, I triple it for two reasons. 1. It uses up the whole can of pumpkin so none goes to waste. 2. These actually freeze really well so I divide them up into freezer bags and I'm set for breakfast for a few weeks.


Ingredients: 

1 scoop	Protein powder
1/2 cup	Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
1/2 tsp	Baking powder
2	Egg whites
1/2 cup	Oats
1/2 cup	+ 2 tbs water
3-5 pkts	Stevia (or 1/2-1 tbs sweetener of choice)

Directions: 
1. Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Heat a skillet or griddle on medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Measure out 1/4 cup of the pancake batter on griddle and flip when bubbles appear on top and edges look cooked.
3. Eat up and enjoy!

You can use a low sugar syrup with these or just eat them plain, which is what I do, because they're that good! If you decide to try out this recipe, let me know what you think!

Do you have any pumpkin recipes that you enjoy?

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

I should probably just write a cookbook with all the lemon recipes I've gathered at this point. Tell me something is lemon flavored and I'm all in. Seriously, bake an old shoe covered in lemon zest and I'd probably give it a try. Ok, not really, but the point is, my love of all things lemon really knows no bounds.

When I saw this cupcake recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try!! I first made this for Easter a few years ago, and then again while I was visiting PBJ in San Francisco this past April. The minute this trip was in discussion, she requested that we bake these. And who am I to turn down that request?? It took us several days to get everything completed b/c we were busy eating all the food and visiting all the places, but they turned out great!

The official description of these is: lemon blueberry cupcakes, with a lemon curd filling and lemon cream cheese frosting. Aka, the cupcakes with a million steps. But oh, are they ever worth it!!

I got the cupcake and lemon curd recipes from There Goes The Cupcake

For the Lemon-Blueberry Cake:

Ingredients

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake papers. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among cupcake cups.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center of a couple cupcakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then put onto racks until completely cool. Makes 24-26 cupcakes.

For the Lemon Curd:

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
zest of one large lemon ( I used 2)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and zest.

Mix together the sugar, salt and cornstarch and add it to the pan. Whisk in the egg yolks until smooth and return to heat. Cook over medium-low heat for roughly 10 minutes until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil.

Once thickened, strain the mixture though a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. Allow to chill in the refrigerator completely before using.

And the lemon cream cheese frosting came from Annie

Ingredients

8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1 large lemon
Additional fresh blueberries, for garnish

Directions

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. Garnish with fresh blueberries.

And this is the finished product. These cupcakes are almost impossible to eat without a fork, but you get the perfect amount of blueberry, the perfect tang of the lemon curd, and the perfect amount of lemon buttercream with every single bite. Be prepared to set aside a good chunk of your time if you plan on making these, but then enjoy as many as you want because they're worth it and you'll deserve it once you've completed them!

Clean Eating Sundried Tomato & Olive Chicken

I just returned from nine glorious days on the west coast. Five days in San Francisco and four days in Los Angeles. I ate way too much just the right amount of all of my California favorites and added a lot of new ones to my list. Not a single regret is had, but all good things must come to an end and I can't keep up with the vacation eating plan. Ok, I could (seriously I ate some good food), but I like to keep the buttons ON my clothes so that wouldn't be in my best interest.

In order to get back on track, I just spent several hours in the kitchen prepping food for the week. I always forget how exhausting that is, but then I remember how much time it saves me on weeknights.

This weeks recipe is one that I've actually made once before. I really loved it the first time around and since I was familiar with it, I decided to make it easy on myself. Not that it's difficult at all.

I love olives. Like, really love olives.

I love mushrooms. Like, really love mushrooms.

When I saw this Clean Eating Sundried Tomato & Olive Chicken posted by The Gracious Pantry, I knew I'd love it. The best thing about these recipes is that there are very few ingredients. Seriously, there are only six ingredients in this one. It doesn't get much easier than that. So, here's what you need!

Ingredients:

• 5 raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 7 ounces each)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 6 ounces black olives, sliced or chopped
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes,

Directions:

1. Saute’ the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil over low to medium-low heat.
2. When the mushrooms just begin to wilt, add the chicken and sun dried tomatoes.
3. Cook until the chicken is completely cooked through.
4. Stir in the olives and remove pan from heat.
5. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

It's that easy. The chicken breasts I used this time were a little bigger than what it calls for so I ended up with nine, 1-cup servings. When eating this for lunch, I usually just eat the 1-cup serving with maybe a side of fruit. But with dinner, it would be good with a side of quinoa, green veggies, or a salad. Or just eat it by itself and save room for dessert. I support that 100%. 

Enjoy! 

Water Drop Dash 5k

Two years. I ran my very first 5k two years ago this past weekend.

March 13, 2011

To celebrate, I ran another! Well, I didn't really plan it to happen that way. About a year ago my office started a wellness program. It started with a 5-month weight loss competition. At the end was cash prizes for the three teams who ended with the most pounds lost. (For the record, my team came in 3rd!) And just recently, they've implemented insurance credits for those with certain BMI's and also for non-smokers. For me, that means I'm paying absolutely nothing for my health insurance. Do I need to repeat that? I am paying absolutely nothing for my health insurance. In all fairness, my company has really excellent benefits to begin with. But in a time of such uncertainty when it comes to health insurance, I am extremely lucky, blessed and thankful for this new perk.

Anyway, back to the running. In an effort to keep pushing everyone to continue with their efforts, the company agreed to pay the entry fee for anyone wanting to participate in the Water Drop Dash 5k. So, Saturday morning I was up at 4:45am and out the door by 5:30. The 25 or so of us that went met up at the office and carpooled to the race on a cold, cold morning.

Dad and me, ready to run! 

For those of you who know me, you know how hard I've been trying to drop my 5k time to under 30 minutes over the past few weeks. 30:18 was the best I'd done on an unofficial race. My previous timed race was 32:18. The week before I came down with a terrible cold. Seriously, one of the worst I've had in a long time. And on Thursday, I tried to run and was forced to walk after a mile due to the combination of being sick and the inhalation of lots and lots of smoke from a local controlled field fire. 

There's a lake there and you can't see it. That's how much smoke there was.

It was brutal. Needless to say, after the week's conditions, still being sick, and the freezing temperatures, I wasn't feeling too confident about my time. But I decided to just do my best and have fun. The hardest thing for me is pace. I tend to give a little too much in my first mile and get tired or too winded too soon. But when I hit mile one at 8:20 (my best 1-mile time to date), I still felt pretty good. In fact, my dad said he was going to try to keep up with me in the beginning, but I "Shot out of there like a bullet." By mile two, I was still feeling pretty great, but wondering when we were going to turn back around, haha! Then runners started coming back, and I started counting my coworkers. One, two, three, four......me. Number five was me! Right behind the guys who are avid runners!! At that point, my focus was to stay in that position, not to let another coworker pass me (competitive much?). And I didn't! I ran across the finish line holding that 5th place position. And as the 1st girl from the office to finish. Even better, I finished in 27:16. Not only did I drop my time below 30 minutes, I shattered my previous best race time!!

It feels pretty damn good to cross a finish line.

Today I went back and checked out the results from my very first 5k. I ran that one in 35:43. In two years, I've cut off 8:27 from my 5k time. To put that in a little perspective, Saturday I ran the first mile in 8:20. And that blows.my.mind.

My official stats or this weekend were:
Overall: 93 of 294
Women's Rank: 24 of 153
Division Place: 4 of 27
Pace: 8:47

Just a little happy with my results :)

We have another race schedule with work, but not until June. I need to find  a few more between now and then. And then, I have to get serious about half marathon training. Oh, did I mention I signed up for my next 1/2? I did. On November 9, I'll be taking on the Savannah Rock n' Roll Half Marathon. I have lofty goals for that race and I can't wait to challenge myself to achieve them.

Are you a runner? If so, what do you do to lower your race times?

Clean Eating Pineapple Chicken

The past few weeks I've been putting a lot of effort into eating as "clean" as possible. I'm not an expert on clean eating and I don't eat clean 100% of the time. But the basic idea is to eat lots of plants (fruits and veggies), whole grains, include lean meats that aren't pre-packaged, and cut out as many chemicals as possible. The fewer the ingredients, the better. And in the past few weeks that I've been doing this, I've noticed that I have SO much more energy in the afternoons/evenings. It had become such a struggle to make the drive home from work every evening, much less make it do the gym. Now I'm full of energy and ready to go and I've noticed that I'm just in a much better mood.

This weeks recipe is Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken that I adapted from The Gracious Pantry. Most of the clean recipes I've tried come from her. They've all been super yummy and super easy and super clean!

(Makes 4-5 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

• 1 (12 ounce) jar of your favorite clean salsa (I used El Pinto All Natural Medium Salsa)

• 3 small raw zucchini, halved, quartered, then sliced (about 4 cups)

• 1/4 medium, fresh pineapple (I love pineapple so I used two cups) 

Directions:

1. Add chicken and salsa to your slow cooker and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the chicken is done, it should fall apart easily.

2. Add zucchini and pineapple and cook for an additional 30 minutes.

3. Serve and enjoy! 

Nutritional Content:

(Data is for 1/5 of the recipe)

Calories: 133

Total Fat: 2 gm

Cholesterol: 39 mg

Carbohydrates: 25 gm

Sodium: 525 mg

Protein: 16 gm

(the original recipe said to serve with the zucchini and pineapple raw, but as I'm not a fan of raw zucchini, I decided to add it and the pineapple to the chicken and salsa the last 30 minutes)

This recipe ended up making 5 1-cup servings that I dished up individually to take for my lunches this week. I loved the combination of the salsa with the pineapple, giving a little spice along with the sweetness of the pineapple. This is definitely a recipe I'll come back to!  

Welcome Back

It’s been a while, but at the request of several, I’m going to try my hardest to jump back on the blogging bandwagon and update regularly. Mainly with recipes I’ve found and loved. Some will be healthy and some will absolutely not be healthy, but they’ll be delicious regardless.

Several of you know my history and my continued effort to lose weight and to just live a healthier lifestyle in general. For those of you who don’t, I’ll give you a quick history my entire life story.

I guess weight has always been an issue for me from probably late elementary school on. In middle school, everyone is in that awkward stage anyway, but adding a little weight to that awkward isn't fun. In high school I became a little more active being in marching band with several hours of outdoor practice daily. It helped, but I was still uncomfortable. My sophomore year I lost 30 pounds very quickly but was borderline anorexic about it. I wouldn’t eat breakfast, I wouldn’t snack, I would maybe eat a yogurt for lunch, if no one was around, I wouldn’t eat dinner, and I popped diet pills like they were candy. With my height and frame, I wasn’t anywhere near being underweight, but I was so unhealthy. I managed to keep most of that weight off through the remainder of high school, but obviously gained a little back because I was no longer starving myself remembered how much I loved food.

Then in college, like with most people, the weight started adding up. And quickly. Being an art student, I had weird and long hours in the studio and the easiest thing to do was grab lunch or dinner from a fast food place on the way to campus. Or to visit the campus center which was basically fast food. In 2009 I had a 1920s themed birthday party and when I went back and looked at pictures, I knew I had to do something.

January 2009

My university had just opened a brand new student center with an incredible gym so I started going religiously. And I started counting calories. And it worked, I lost around 30 pounds again, but I still wasn’t technically healthy about it. Packaged frozen Healthy Choice dinners and low calorie packaged foods, diet soda instead of regular, things that really did make a difference but still contained so many chemicals.

April 2009 

And eventually, the weight stopped coming off. And I even gained 5+ pounds back. When I was finished with school, I lost access to the gym so that stopped too. Then at the end of 2010 I decided I needed to get back on track. I signed up for my first ever 5k and started training. I am not a runner and it wasn’t easy. But when I finished 10 minutes under my goal, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to push myself further and to complete more races.

March 2011

I did another 5k a month or two later and then kind of fell off the running for a few months. And then I decided to train for a half marathon. Crazy right? After doing Zumba for a few months, I stopped attending those classes and joined a gym in order to focus on my training. My Saturday mornings were spent waking up at 5am to go run countless miles in the freezing cold. That Thanksgiving, I ran my first 10k.

November 2011

I logged well over 100 miles in the course of my training. And when I crossed that finish line, 30 minutes under my previous best time, I was so proud of myself. I can’t even describe the feeling. I was also exhausted, in pain, and wanted to eat all the food haha.

Since my half marathon, a year ago this weekend, I’ve remained dedicated to the gym. I go at least four days a week. I’ve continued to run and have done several 5k races with two coming up. And I’ve managed to lose another 30+ pounds. This past fall I competed in a 5-month weight loss competition at work. During those five months alone, I lost 22.6 pounds and my team came in 3rd place out of 25 teams. Again, counting calories and pushing myself a little harder in the gym paid off. People were always shocked when they asked what I changed and I’d respond with, “Actually, if anything, I’m eating more now than I was before.” And I do. I eat breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner, and sometimes a snack after I workout.

So what am I doing to maintain? I still count calories religiously. Everything I consume gets tracked. Every glass of water I drink gets tracked. Every calorie I burn gets tracked. And with Livestrong’s iPhone app, it’s super easy to keep up with. Nine and a half months ago, I completely gave up soda of any form. And most recently, I’ve incorporated a “clean” diet into my daily routine. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t eat 100% clean. But things that are easiest for me to control are my breakfasts, snacks and lunches. I eat fruits and vegetables instead of yogurt and granola bars. I switched from 2% milk to unsweetened almond milk. I make a concerted effort to only pack all natural dishes for my breakfasts and lunches and I find that that is key. Packing my food the night before ensures that I’m eating healthy, that I’m not just grabbing something out of convenience. It prevents me from making a trip to the vending machine at work or to a drive-thru at lunchtime. I’ve been doing this for about three weeks now and I can’t believe how much more energy I have at the end of the day. I’d make it to the gym before, but there were nights it was an absolute struggle to get out the door. I had zero motivation and just did the movements until I got my workout in and could go home. Now I’m full of energy and ready to go and I actually still have energy when I’m done. And I honestly contribute this to keeping chemicals out of my body. Another thing I think has helped with my success is that I don’t have “cheat days.” I don’t believe in cheat days. If I want a handful of m&m's, I’m going to eat a handful of m&m’s. If I want to order French fries with my dinner, I’m going to order French fries with my dinner. I also love to bake, so if I want to bake cookies and cupcakes and brownies, you best believe I’m going to bake cookies and cupcakes and brownies. I don’t believe in depriving yourself of those things. It is absolutely okay to allow yourself those treats, just do it in moderation. This is also probably the reason I don’t push my clean eating a little further, haha! But it works for me. It may not work for you, but I’ve found what works for me. I’m not 100% happy with my body just yet, but I am happy with the effort I've put in and the results I've seen. And hopefully, with time, I'll mike a few more changes and learn to love the body I have.

November 2012

So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to share recipes with you as I go. The “clean” eating is new to me. These recipes are new to me. It’s going to be trial and error. I’m not claiming to be in any way an expert about anything I say. In fact, I’m sure many people would tell me I’m doing everything all wrong, but like I said, I’m doing what works for me. I’m also going to force you to indulge because like I said, I like to bake. And sometimes you just need to be caught with your hand in the cookie jar. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. If you have any suggestions, I am all open. Hopefully I'll be here to motivate you. And hopefully, you can motivate me too.

So, who's ready to eat?