Protein Packed Banana Sunflower Cookies gluten and sugar free

My baby is going to be 4 years old in a few weeks. I suppose that means I can officially no longer use the excuse that I am still trying to loose the baby fat. What's that you say? Most people say it only takes 6 months to a year at most to lose the weight after having a baby. Well then, I guess I better find another excuse for hanging onto the chubs like being almost 40=slow metabolism, being constantly busy with 4 kids and work.......

Alright, alright. Excuses suck and they don't create results so I'll  just have to suck it up and take matters into my own hands. Step it up a notch. Or two.

My chubby tummy is really starting to get on my nerves. The chubs have gots to go! I have been telling myself for almost 4 years, since aforementioned baby numero 4 that I will not buy new clothes until I lose at least 20lbs. 30 would be super.

The fact that my wardrobe is seriously out of style should tell you something. It's been way too long just waiting for the weight to come off. After I had my first 3 children I worked out once and a while, a few times a week usually hiking or playing tennis and sometimes home workouts when it was too hot outside. The wight came off fairly easily. So what happened after baby #4? This belly won't budge!


Taking matters into my own hands I decided to join a workout program along with a month of Shakeology with my long time fellow blogger and inspirational friend Jen aka The Fit Housewife.
I'm so excited to get started! My package should be on the doorstep any day now and I'll be on a 90 kick ass jump start to the new me with Chalean Extreme.


Getting motivated to workout isn't easy for me. Usually I have to tell myself to at the very least do a Yoga or 20 minutes of Pilates and after I do I'm energized and ready to kick it into gear with a tougher workout. Cute new workout clothes also are a great motivator so when Marni from ZUMBA Fitness offered to send me some of their new apparel I was more than happy to check it out.

I recieved this cute tank top which I loved! It wans't clingy which helps hide the tummy while I try to get rid of it. I really liked how airy it was, I hate when my clothes stay wet when I sweat. 

These sports bras would look great under their open back tanks!

 I like the sassy edgy quality of Zumba's line of comfortable workout clothes. 

Sporting my cute, new workout clothes and stocked with these healthy,

 protein packed pre-workout cookies I'm ready to get my cardio on!

These banana sunflower cookies taste like banana bread, my favorite!
Sweetened with a touch of honey and a handful of shredded coconut and made with
good for you gluten free flours minus the starch. I'm in love.

 

Oil free, butter free, refined sugar free, grain free. These still tasted wonderful. They have a cake like texture and the sunflower seeds added just the right amount of texture and heartiness, not to mention tons of beneficial vitamins and protein.

PREP TIME    10 MIN   

BAKE TIME    10 MIN

YIELDS    16-20 COOKIES 

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup plain, fat free yogurt (or sugar free applesauce)

1/4 cup honey preferably local Organic, aides w allergies (eye it)

1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (or more honey)

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup buckwheat flour (or almond flour)

1 cup shelled, unsalted sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon iodized salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream together the bananas, yogurt and honey for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the sunflower seeds, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture along with coconut. Mix thoroughly to combine. 

Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheet, placing them about 2" apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, the body's primary fat-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin E travels throughout the body neutralizing free radicals which can reduce the
symptoms of asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, conditions where
free radicals and inflammation play a big role.

The minerals and vitamins in sunflower seeds also can greatly help reduce the severity of asthma, lower high blood pressure, and prevent migraine headaches, as well as reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.





Sources
The World's Healthiest Foods

FEAR

My 49th Birthday!

What a gripping word that can literally take the wind out of our sails, right? We have all experienced some sort of fear in our lives and it does not discriminate with gender or age.  In my journey of life and health I have definitely felt and experienced fear on all levels, physical, emotional, relational, financial, and spiritual.  Of course, when going through such feelings, it can be difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel, and sometimes, just staying put in the comfort of a warm bed until the storm blows over makes perfect sense at the time.  Facing a fear is one of the hardest things to do in life, and it does take courage, inner strength, and the physical will to force the body to go, when the mind says to freeze. 

Emotional challenges and fears seem to be the most draining, at least in my

experience, and take time to process through, and figure out the best way to persevere.  It does not matter how long anything takes to get resolved, the important thing is to keep going, and never give up. I have found that prayer and a bond with a great therapist to get over emotional hurdles worked for me years ago.  I was able to heal from hurt and learn how to create boundaries that I now implement to take care of me.  It is amazing how years of moving through different emotional challenges and fear has created such a positive growth process, but that is all in how I was taught to respond to life’s circumstances.  Healthy creates healthy and that is what I am striving for each day.  Going through emotional difficulties and this is also linked to relational definitely opened my eyes to what I do want and do not want in my life, and how to now walk through each fear or challenge with a new pair of eyes that can see clearly the way to a healthy resolution.  No more rose colored glasses for this girl. 

Many things that cause fear are out of my and your control, but the feeling can creep in and try to steal away our happiness, create doubt, anxiety and other self destructive mind games that our inner selves again need to recognize, and respond in a healthy way.  When I was injured years ago and flat on my back, I felt so fearful of my life never being the same, being stripped of who I was as a therapist and trainer, extreme athlete, and person…I felt like a failure and I grieved the loss of who I was…this was gripping FEAR.  I was very humbled through this year long healing process and truly lost some faith in what I was going to do.  It was this journey however, that finally opened my eyes to who I really was, and what I could really do with my life, my knowledge, and my body.  It was painful and fearful, but each day opened the window a little more to my purpose and my hope slowly was restored.  Again, things did not happen overnight, just like with getting healthy in every aspect, patience and perseverance are required. 

What I am trying to share about FEAR is that it is a part of life, is not going

anywhere, and to say that it will not be experienced is well…an untruth.  The truth is that fear can be used to grow me and you in a healthy positive way, or take us to the ground.  Let’s say lack of finances has caused fear and believe me I have felt that sting as well, and sometimes this is not created by our own doing, and sometimes it is.  The point is…what is going to be done to get into a healthy place?  Having a plan to fix the problem is important, can provide a comfort and eventually remove the fear surrounding the circumstance.  I am talking about all areas of life where fear can rear its’ ugly head. 

I have found that keeping a journal helps with being a healthy person, and if I am feeling a certain way, or fearful about something, I journal about it, pray about it, and let it go.  There may be work for me to do, but I always feel more sure and able to work through the process when I have written about it.  I look back on my periods of fear in the different areas of my life and can now say that I am thankful for the learning journey, and the blessings along the way.  Letting go of unhealthy and embracing the healthy has opened many doors in my life, closed those doors that needed to be nailed shut, brought fabulous loving people to share my life, and a wonderful husband that I love and cherish dearly.  I no longer look upon fear as such a negative thing, but get through those feelings the best that I know how, and ask myself …why am I feeling this way, what is causing me to feel this way, and create a plan to remove the source further asking myself…what am I learning to better ME through this circumstance.  YES, there will be FEAR, but what matters is how I will be handling it.  Stay Healthy!

IN YOUR FACE MOTIVATIONS

I dedicate this Blog to my fabulous husband Don who is celebrating his birthday next week!  Happy Birthday Babe and I Love YOU Forever and a Day~

Married to my Best Friend

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list.  If you are inspired, LIKE my entry, leave a comment and I look forward to responding! 

Stay Healthy~ Darla 

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Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade and The World's Best Ever Steak Marinade

This weekend as you well know is Father's Day weekend. Instead of hanging out around the house and  grilling some steaks and swimming in the pool we decided it would be a good idea to take all of the kids and meet the fam up at Big Lake for some camping chaos fun. If you didn't read my post from last year you may not fully appreciate how difficult interesting it can be when camping with 3 young children and a cranky teenager. If your up for a good laugh read about our adventure here.  I remain very optimistic that things will go much better this year.......

For one thing, I'm going to make things a LOT easier on myself and stick with the basics. Simple, yet good food and packing just what's necessary instead of trying to plan for every inconceivable disaster. Quite frankly I'm just too pooped to plan.


Last weekend we grilled up some steaks which turned out to be hands down best ever and all around awesome. I'm not a huge red meat so when I'm craving a nice steak or burger It better be good. I like my meat very tender and super flavorful. These steaks were both and the tangy, sweet flavor can be attributed to this marinade which worked wonders on the meat. Man, it was so good!

I also attempted to make a red pepper, cilantro pesto from Dara at Cookin' Canuck  but ended up tweaking the ingredients and process a bit to end up with more of a tapenade. I love tapenades in every variety, they are so versatile and satisfying in a grown up sort of way. They can be paired with steak, on top of smoked or grilled fish (my favorite) or as a stand alone hor d'oeuvres with crackers, a baguette and of course a good aperitif.

Basically, for this to be a tapenade instead of a pesto, you need to use a bit more almonds and less red pepper. Preferably use a small hand food processor or pulse just a few times in your regular one. I love my little manual one for chopping garlic, finely mincing onion, herbs and making salsa and guacamole. It's just a tiny little thing and so easy to clean. I use it daily.

Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

1 small red bell pepper, roasted

3 cloves garlic

1 cup blanched almonds (2 handfuls)

small handful cilantro

squeeze lime juice

2-3 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil

Pulse all ingredients except lime juice and oil in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Drizzle in oil and lime juice. Pulse until desired consistency.

Happy Father's Day to my dad who is the coolest and most gerous guy I know and to my sweet and as perfect as they get husband who keeps me grounded, happy and calm. 

and to all you other dad's, I hope you have a wonderful day!

(camping or not)

Grilled Eggplant Caprese with Parmesan and Garlic White Bean Puree

Summer in Phoenix means very long, hot days and cooking is the very last thing I want to do. Sitting by the pool with an ice cold drink while waiting for my grill to work it's magic on these eggplants however, is my idea of a perfect summer supper. Grilling thick slices of eggplant brings out a wonderful smokey flavor that baking just can't replicate. In a pinch broiling them will do but I find that not only is the flavor not up to par but they turn out a bit soggier than when on the grill.











Now that the kids are out of school I seem to have lost any and all motivation to cook over involved meals. We have a fun, semi-structured summer plan to keep our bodies in motion and our minds from turning into jello. On the 3 days during the week that I work my mom is nice enough to have a short, fun and interactive lesson planned for them. They've been learning about insects, ocean creatures and the different parts of plants so far. After their lesson they do a fun project or a craft about what they learned.

On the week they learned about insects, they learned all about bees and how they make honey and interact with each other in the hive. We have a fun trip to a small, family owned farm near our house that has several bee hives on site! How cool! This will also let them see how and where plants, our food in particular grow. Right now they think that bananas grow at the grocery store and hot dogs grow on trees. O.K. not really, but living in the city they've only seen the few pathetic plants and herbs that mommy tries to grow in pots. So we are looking forward to a trip to a real farm.

Eggplant is almost at the end of it's season here in the Phoenix desert so we will have to pick up several while we are at the farm along with heirloom tomatoes, peppers, purple and green beans, 

summer squash and strawberries. 

Tonapah Rob's Vegetable Farm. Heirloom Tomatoes

I'll have to post about the whole bee hive experience and pick up a bottle of the local, Organic honey they produce there! They also have over 300 hens so hopefully we will get some nice fresh eggs. 

So excited!

Simple Summer Supper

For the Eggplant Caprese

2 medium eggplants, sliced
2 large tomatoes, sliced
8-10 oz fresh mozzarella ball, sliced
fresh Parmesan, grated
handful of fresh basil, chopped
EVOO for brushing eggplant
salt

For the White Bean Puree

2 cups dry white beans
4 cups chicken broth or water
1 small leek (optional, for more flavor)
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon EVOO
1 teaspoon salt
freshly cracked pepper

Preparation: The night before, soak your beans in a covered bowl of water.

In the morning, drain and rinse the beans. Place in a slow cooker with water, salt

bay leaves and rosemary sprig. Cook on low for 8 hours. Do not pick up lid.

Putting it all together:

Fire up your grill on medium heat.

Using a paring knife, remove peel from eggplant. Slice into 1/2 pieces. 

Lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt. 

Remove loose skin from garlic. Cut the top 1/4 inch off of the head of garlic.

Lightly drizzle the exposed garlic cloves with oil. Place on grill. 

Cut the dark green leaves off the leek, discard. Slice the remaining white and light green

stalk in half lengthwise. Brush lightly with oil. Place leek cut side down on grill.

Place eggplant on grill and press lightly. Cook 5-6 minutes on each side (leave the leek face down). 

I like to close the grill lid to let the smoke work it's magic. Be careful not to let them burn.

Remove from grill. Set eggplant aside. Carefully chop leek into small pieces.

Meanwhile, remove rosemary and bay leaves from cooked beans. 

Put leek into the slow cooker with the beans. Carefully squeeze out cooked garlic cloves into

beans. Using an immersion blender, puree the beans until smooth. 

Spoon onto a deep plate. Top with freshly cracked pepper.

On top of the bean puree, place a slice of grilled eggplant, top with slice of mozzarella, tomato, chopped basil, repeat. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garnish with basil.

I know it may sound like a lot of preparation but it's really not. I just wanted to explain in detail.  Also, 

the flavor of the bean puree was so complex thanks to slow cooking in the herbs, the grilled garlic and leek and paired wonderfully with the eggplant caprese.

 It makes this a complete and very satisfying dinner. 

My Responsibility

Life comes with responsibility and I am surely not going to sit back and not take that seriously.   My health, relationships, financial obligations, emotional and spiritual life all depend on me to take care of business.  If I were to sit around and not take care of my stuff then all of ME would be a big mess and that does not sound like a great place to be nor do I want to even go for a visit down that road.  Sometimes in life, and I have been there, we can be placed in a situation that is not in our control and the best we can do is to go through the process of fixing the problem which can take years.  I am thankful for the patience that it takes to get through those sticky scenarios, but the point is, I am responsible to persevere and take care of ME.

Imagine sitting back and thinking life is going to take

care of me without my daily choices and actions to make things happen…my health would be a mess, my finances would be in the toilet, I am sure my hubby would not like that person, and any other relationship for that matter would steer clear, and I would be an emotional and spiritual blank slate…YUCK and OH MY…NO WAY.  I am sharing that it is up to me to make the choices to be a healthy person, to put in the work to GET IT DONE, to plan, to cook, to move my body, to sleep, pay the bills, take my job seriously and be thankful,  love and appreciate my husband,  family and my God each and every day.  I am owed nothing and responsible to give everything…in a GOOD HEALTHY WAY.  Life has taught me to not believe in the “golden goose” that is to magically make everything fabulous, but to be my own “bronze goose” and do the best I can with the choices I make each day with the goal of not making magic happen, but making a HEALTHY life happen. 

I have said this before that life does not promise easy, but the effort put into your/my/our life is worth all that we give and put into it.  I do not sit around blaming my past, people, or circumstances and use that as an excuse to not be my BEST me and remain an unhealthy person, but utilize the circumstances of life to become a BETTER me, learning what I can through all journey that is good, tough, happy, sad…you get the point.  Let’s take a credit card for example, instant gratification without the work and it may feel great at the moment, but at what cost when the card runs dry…the inability to pay the bill, ruin my credit, stress me out, and ultimately make me an unhealthy person.  The other side of that coin and my preference is to be patient, save enough to afford the item and then make the purchase, and sometimes, I no longer need or want the item I have saved for.  My health is the same way, I can think that there is some quick fix pill that is going to make me into some fabulous fit thing, but just like the card, it is only instant gratification that comes at an unhealthy cost to my body.  I take the responsibility for my health very serious, and invest the time to take care of my body, prepare healthy foods, and exercise with what works for me.  This is a life LONG journey of patience and persistence to create the BEST healthy me and ultimately, my responsibility.  

I make the choice to WANT a healthy body and that

does take effort to commit to my exercise routine, plan my meals, and cook healthy foods daily.  I am a very busy gal and I have learned that time management skills are important in life, and choosing to say “NO” can be a good thing to not overburden my calendar and not allow for a healthy life.  It is about choices and responsibilities and knowing what I want and what I do not want, and going a step further to recognize the needs versus the wants in life.   The “old Darla” used to be a “YES” to everything gal and trying to please everyone under the sun…GUESS WHAT…unhealthy and why put myself through all that and for what point?  Being responsibly balanced has become important and allows me to live each day feeling accomplished, not overwhelmed, and have the ability to enjoy precious time that is meaningful. 

Being responsible means throwing all laziness aside and not waiting around thinking that someone else is supposed to do this for me.  Life is not about what others can do for me, it is about what I can do for me and should do for me.  The straight up truth about life is that “it is tough” as my Dad would say, and “it takes a tough person to get through it”.  The responsibility to be healthy in all areas is my decision and the choices I make determine how my body is going to look and feel from the inside out.  No magic involved, just responsibility.

IN YOUR FACE MOTIVATION

I dedicate this Blog to my Dad for Father’s Day and also my beautiful Daughter to wish her a Happy Birthday!  Love to you always and I look forward to spending meaningful time with you.

Happy Father's Day Dad

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Daughter

  

Thanks for stopping by my Blog, hope you enjoy the content, and if you have not become a follower yet, I would love to see your face on my friend's list.  If you are inspired, LIKE my entry, leave a comment and I look forward to responding! 

Stay Healthy~ Darla 

Receive My Stay Healthy Nutrition Guide as a Free Gift and Thank you when you donate to Stay Healthy Fitness...