Let me start by saying, I "try" to make clean food as much as possible, but there are times when you're at a crossroads... semi-processed at home, or completely processed at the store. This recipe allows you to still bring a homemade treat with similar, or better, nutrients than the store and your house will smell delicious in the process. And it is SIMPLE - only three ingredients! Get ready for this...cake mix, water, canned pumpkin. Bam. Easy right?
I prefer Duncan Hines SPICE cake mix. I love the flavor it brings out and it's always a hit. But, Duncan Hines doesn't state that they are a nut free factory so if I'm making this for a party or school, I always use Betty Crocker who I've been told, is safe for nut allergies. **My family only has coconut allergies so I'm going off what I've been told.
US version:
1 box Duncan Hines spice cake mix
1/2 c water
1 15 oz Libby's canned pumpkin
Australia version:
1 box vanilla cake mix
1/4 c water
1 15 oz Libby's canned pumpkin
1-2 TBSP Pumpkin Spice***, to taste (the batter doesn't have eggs so you won't get sick tasting it, but don't eat it ALL! speaking from experience here) ;)
*For a party, sift powdered sugar on top for that extra WOW factor. You could ice them, but I find them sweet enough and powered sugar really is impressive enough without hiding the flavor of everything else.
**I usually double this recipe when I make it because my kids seriously go through this super quick and I can spread the love to teachers, neighbors, church morning tea, etc. or freeze them. They are great frozen and then reheated once they thaw.
***if you don't have Pumpkin Spice on hand, save your money and make it. It's super simple and I make it in large batches so it lasts for month. I use it in a lot of things so it's handy to have around and no need to spend $4-5 on a small jar: 1.5 TBSP ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground allspice, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves.
DO NOT MISS THIS! You do not make the recipe with the instructions on the box...disregard that, you only use water and canned pumpkin so this is egg free, nut free, butter free, and oil free too. Also, this is not 21-Day Fix approved, but again, one of those splurges where you want to bring homemade, have people talk about you for days and make everyone in your house think you are AMAZING!
Pumpkin Cookies
These taste like warm oatmeal cookies with a creamy pumpkin filling you'd find in a donut. Yes I said the word donut on my blog ;) The fat content is minimal because we use organic extra-virgin coconut oil, plus they’re gluten-free! It's always a win if you can stay on target with your goals and please the whole family, while indulging. You don't have to disown sweets to tone and lose weight and these are in line with 21-Day Fix container system.
SERVES: 9 (1 pie each)
INGREDIENTS - COOKIES:
I served these with creamy peanut butter on top and they were delicious too. I stored in the fridge and we used them in school lunches, breakfast with yogurt, dessert with cream filling or like this (above). You can't go wrong.
1 cup dry old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. sea salt (I prefer Himalayan salt)
¼ cup extra-virgin organic coconut oil
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 large egg
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ cup chopped raw walnuts (opt)
INGREIDENTS - PUMPKIN FILLING:
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
½ tsp. unflavored gelatin (preferably from grass-fed cows)
½ cup 100% pure pumpkin puree (this is hard to find in Australia)
2 Tbsp. coconut sugar
1 pinch sea salt (I prefer Himalayan salt)
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 dash ground cloves
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS - COOKIES:
Preheat oven to 350º F or 160º C
Line baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly coat with spray (I prefer Olive Oil spray).
Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; mix well. Set aside.
Combine oil and sugar in a medium bowl. Using electric mixer beat until light and fluffy.
Add egg and extract; beat until well blended.
Gently fold in oat mixture and mix until just blended.
Fold in walnuts (if desired) and mix until just blended.
Spread 18 rounded Tbsp. of dough onto lined baking sheet.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes, rotating baking sheet once halfway through, or until golden brown.
Cool cookies completely before filling (hot cookies will melt the cream filling).
DIRECTIONS - PUMPKIN FILLING:
While cookies are baking, combine cream and gelatin in a large mixing bowl; whisk to blend. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Add pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and extract to cream mixture; whisk to blend.
Add pumpkin mixture to a large skillet. Bring to a gentle boil, over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly.
Place pumpkin mixture in heat-proof bowl, then place bowl in ice bath. Chill for 5 to 10 minutes, or until pumpkin mixture has set to the consistency of pudding.
Transfer pumpkin filling to a large resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate until it’s time to fill the pies.
DIRECTIONS - WHOOPIE PIES:
Snip off one corner of plastic bag (containing pumpkin filling) with a pair of scissors.
Pipe approx. 1 Tbsp. filling on the flat bottom of a cookie; press another cookie on top to form a sandwich. Continue with remaining cookies and filling until nine pies are complete.
Whoopie pies may be enjoyed immediately or refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 4 days.
21 Day Fix containers: 1.5 Y, .5 B, 1 tsp
80 Day Obsession containers: use this for re-feed days only (always before leg day).
Fixate Whoopie Pies can be found in Autumn Calabrese's Fixate cookbook, along with hundreds of other 21-Day Fix approved recipes. You can buy it HERE.
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies
You're welcome. :) A non-clean recipe that will make your mouth water just by reading it I'm sure! This might just be THE Valentine's Recipe that wins your date's heart!
I like to take shortcuts here I can and when it won' the noticed and change the results. So, I start with Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownies. For this you just need 1 egg, ⅓ c vegetable oil and ⅓ c water. I modify this and encourage you to do the same; YOU WILL NOT NOTICE! Instead of ⅓ c vegetable oil I do 1/2 unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 olive oil. literally pour both in the same ⅓ cup so it's whatever portion you want. You could even do ⅔ of it applesauce and less oil. This is plenty rich that you won't notice and I personally prefer brownies less oily. Bake as instructed on the box and set aside to cool. (Instead of spraying the pan, I line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper so the brownies come out seamlessly, but DO NOT life out till they've completely cooled or they'll crack / break).
While this is cooking you can start making the peanut butter cookie dough.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup clean creamy peanut butter (why add oils and sugars you don't need)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix together and spread on top of COOLED brownies. There are no eggs in this cookie dough so if some jumps in your mouth, you're all good :) WHEW, that might have happened to me!
Now it's time to make the fudge topping. When I made it, I had no cream so it was a little watery and messy. I had low fat 1% milk which was not ideal, but still tasted AMAZING!
Ingredients:
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
Microwave these ingredients together for 30 seconds at a time so you don't burn the chocolate. Not only would that be a sin, it is so hard to clean up and wasted chocolate. I'm just not ok with that, so if it happens, don't tell me! Lets agree on that :)
**If it's more watery than you'd like, add more chocolate chips, but you won't need more richness so try to use cream and this turns out perfect!
Yuuuummmmyyyyy! These are really delightful! And they freeze well. This portion on the plate was good for 4 boys, 2 dads and 2 moms. It's 13 in total and I froze the rest because my husband's rule is I can't give ALL baked goods away. He wants to have some the next night too. My goal is always to GIVE ALL OF IT AWAY because I work from home and DO NOT want to get caught eating the other 3 we had left over :/
Fixate Peanut Peanut Butter Squares
Whenever I make something from "FIXATE" cookbook, written by Autumn Calabrese, I think "fixate it and forget about it!!" Sounds funny, but she is the one that designed the every popular "portion controller contain system" with Beachbody. So when you make anything in her cookbook you have the exact container portions per serving. She also lists the nutritional info (carbs, fat, etc) but if you're doing Beachbody programs popular....YOU WILL NEVER COUNT CALORIES AGAIN! SERIOUSLY, you won't! I lived by My Fitness Pal app and scanned in all my food to be under 1300 calories a day and I never look at the label now exact to check that the ingredients are clean because I know I'll measure out what's right for my husband and I and it's no different than measuring for any other recipe. So the stress is gone and it's super cheap ($20!) You can get it HERE if interested.
I made this yesterday with Matthew and I know I'm biased, but I think ours turned out even better... Here are my takeaways...
1) do this with your kids. Matthew made the whole thing. Is that bad I let him use the mixer? He knows to keep hands out and doesn't let it spin out of control and I'm right there, so I feel OK about it. He cracked the eggs and all and so far, we've found no shells! Maybe I should eat a few more to make sure :)
2) Dark chocolate chips are fun add on. White Chocolate chips could be good too, but dark chocolate is the best for you, so there you go, but we are eating dessert...so...
3) Use creamy PB as instructed 🙄!!! I don't like to deviate from recipes and was stressed that all I had was crunchy so I went to Wooly's to get creamy and then grabbed my dark chocolate chips and left, totally forgetting the reason I went. Chocolate has that effect on me :/ It's not bad, but I'd like it better without the crunch.
4) This would go great with ice cream, esp if slightly warm. Of course you need to chose wisely if you're doing 21 day fix for restuls, but if you're on the 80 / 20 maintenance plan, then have a spoonful and call it a day. Otherwise, I think the tartness from plain .5%-2% fat Greek yogurt would be good and then you'd stay on track!
5) This makes 16 servings and they're big. Counts as 1 yellow & 2 tsp. Worth every bit of it!! I think I could chose this over wine and live with myself. :)
6) I undercooked them by 2-3 min. since I"m still getting adjusted to celsius vs fahrenheit and was so worried I'd burn them. Nothing is worse than overcooked or burnt desserts, esp PB flavor, so these were extra gooey, but I'm ok with that.
7) DON'T SHARE. GET YOUR OWN!!!
Fixate picture: as recipe is written (creamy PB and no chocolate chips)
Ingredients:
-Nonstick cooking spray (I prefer Olive Oil and it didn't change the flavor at all)
-1 1/2 C clean creamy peanut butter
-1/2 C honey or maple syrup (I chose honey, get the cheapest kind since you'll go through a lot if you follow my recipes, same with maple syrup. I prefer Costco for both of these staples)
-2 eggs
-2 tsp vanilla extract (if you don't have vanilla extract you can sub almond extract, but do not do 1 for 1 as Google says you can. It's way too strong and overpowers it. I'd do 1/2-1 tsp tops!
-1/2 tsp baking soda
Directions:
-mix everything together in a mixing bowl
-spread evenly into lightly coated 8x8 pan
-bake for 20-25 min in preheated oven (350 degrees). it will continue cooking once you take them out and you can't cut them or remove them till they cool, so take out a little earlier than how you want them to look when done. (esp if you added chocolate to them)
-cool and cut into 16 squares
21 day fix count: 1 yellow, 2.5 tsp, 182 calories, 7g protein, 1 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 13g fat
Café Latte Coconut Popsicles
Café Latte Coconut Popsicles
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 scoops Café Latte Vegan Shakeology
½ large banana
Popsicle sticks
Parchment paper
⅓ cup semi-sweet (or dark) chocolate chips, no dairy added (approx. 2½ oz.)
2 tsp. extra-virgin organic coconut oil
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. finely grated orange (or lemon) peel (orange zest) (optional)
Preparation:
1. Place milk, Shakeology, and banana in blender; cover. Blend until smooth.
2. Pour evenly into four ice pop molds; insert a popsicle stick into each pop. Freeze for 3 hours, or until hard.
3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
4. Place chocolate chips and oil in microwave-safe container. Microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds; stir. Microwave for an additional 30 to 45 seconds, or until just melted. Do not overcook. Place in small re-sealable plastic bag. Squeeze out most of the air; seal top. Set aside.
5. Place frozen pops on prepared baking sheet.
6. Cut off a tiny corner of plastic bag containing chocolate. Evenly pipe chocolate over pops.
7. Sprinkle evenly with coconut and orange peel (if desired).
8. Freeze for 15 minutes.Your text caption goes here. You can change the position of the caption and set styles in the block’s settings tab.
Yield: 4 servings, 1 pop each
Sinless cookies!!
Y'all I make these so often it's not even funny! And guess who eats them first at every party I take them too??? THE GUYS!!! I get lots of crap for the name "sinless cookies" and that they'd rather sin than eat healthy desserts, but every single time I leave with an empty plate and there are leftovers of the store bought or homemade cookies. Try for yourself.
tip - When my bananas start browning I peel them and cut them in half so that I have correct portions when I want to make a quick Shakeology smoothie, sinless cookies or banana bread. If your blender doesn't handle frozen fruit well then I'd slice them up as well before you freeze them so it has an easier time pureeing the banana.
This is how you indulge, but you keep your gut in check. literally :)
21 day fix containers: servings is 2 cookies = 1 yellow, 1/3 purple.
80 Shift Shop recipes that are to DIE FOR!!
I was reviewing these tonight and seriously, my mouth was watering! These sound amazing and there are desserts, snacks and meals all included, with container counts. You might wonder why I'm sharing all this info that requires a Beachbody on Demand membership, but it's because I know those that get the results are the ones that are all in... diet (clean eating), portion control (depends on the program...for 21 day fix I will get 2 carbs / day and Body Beast I will get 10! and that changes throughout the program), exercise (streaming or DVDs) and Shakeology.
If you skimp on any one of those, you're cheating yourself and not getting the most results out of your 21 day effort. Why waste your time?!? You wouldn't brush your teeth with 1/2 the amount of toothpaste to save money and risk getting a cavity, so why would you drink 1/2 the serving of Shakeology to make it last longer? First of all, you won't get the same nutrition out of it so you'll be lacking on some vitamins and you'll be hungry faster so there go your cravings, snacking and calories. So I'm not worried with all these recipes that you won't need me. YOU NEED ME and I NEED YOU :) I do these programs too and your posts and encouragement is a two way street.
So, who is going to help hold me accountable for round two of Shift Shop starting on Monday? What you do in your house is your business till you make it out business. These private groups in the My Challenger App are the secret sauce :)
HERE are all 80 recipes, divided by week 1, 2, and 3.
No Bake Cookies
There are so many ways to enjoy Shakeology and it is not limited to a blender for smoothies. Try these!! Hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!!
Fro-yo Berry Bites
These are delicious and will have you thinking twice about ever reaching for cheesecake again! Since I'm lactose intolerant, this is an awesome swticheroo for me and lets me still indulge without paying for it later.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup crushed almonds or almond meal
2 tablespoons coconut sugar, (more for a sweeter FroYo Bite)
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups fresh chopped strawberries and/or raspberries
6-cup muffin tin and liners
Directions can be found HERE.
11 Healthy Popsicles
oh my goodness!! yes puh-lease!!!! Which one is your favorite? I think mine are these berry ones or chocolate peanut butter. I mean, I've never met a chocolate peanut butter ANYTHING that I didn't love. haha
Check out all 11 popsicles which soon super easy and perfect for summer HERE!
Paleo Double Chocolate Gooey Cake
For the brownie layer
1 C almond meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
2 TBSP coconut oil
1 TBSP honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chocolate chips, melted in microwave
1 TBSP chia seeds
For the cookie dough layer
1 cup almond meal
Pinch sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
3 oz plain applesauce
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
**For dairy-free chocolate chips, check out the Enjoy Life brand
For instructions click HERE
Triple Chocolate Shakeology - yummm!!
Talk about a sweet treat! Have you tried this recipe yet?? If not, you should! Check it out HERE!
Brownie nutter butter batter - aka healthy Reese's Cup!
It's movie night in the Vining household and daddy is away on a business trip, so the kids and I curled up watching Chicken Run and having Shakeology brownie-nutter batter (yes, it's clean) for dessert. I'm feeling generous tonight, so we each got our own! They better not expect that all the time!
Perfect Friday night with my boys while we wait for daddy to come home.
Ingredients:
1 scoop / packet Vegan Chocolate Shakeology
⅓ c water (to taste, for consistency)
1 ½ tsp creamy nut butter (I prefer dark roasted, make sure it’s clean!)
Stir together and add more water if it’s too think. This doesn’t turn out the same with Whey formula, so stick with Vegan. I mean, how can brownie batter be bad, but it’s just better with Vegan :)