Pumpkin Cookies-My favorite ride fuel!

The ingredients I use: Almond flour, almond butter, pumpkin (in BPA free can), Lily's chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and sometimes vanilla

I am the first to admit that I am not so good at following recipes, but here is the 'recipe' for my favorite ride fuel:
-1/4 cup pureed pumpkin (make sure comes from BPA free can)
-1/2 cup almond butter
-1/2 cup honey
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 cup almond flour
-1tsp pumpkin pie spice
-1/4 tsp baking soda
-1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
-1/2 walnuts

Now here is what I do:
-1/2 can/container of pureed pumpkin
-1/2 cup almond butter
-no honey
-1 tsp vanilla
-almond flour to a consistency I like
-cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste (a lot)
-sprinkle of baking soda
-dark chocolate chips to taste (my current favorite brand is Lily's)
-walnuts to taste

Yummy ride food!

Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Combine we ingredients together then add dry ingredients and mix.  Scoop batter to whatever size preferred and flatten out to desired thickness as these cookies do not spread.  Bake ~15 minutes.  Total prep time: 5 minutes, cook time~15 minutes.


 Ride and Eat or Eat and Ride!

Typical breakfast

A pretty typical breakfast for me includes:

Oat bran:  Cooks faster than Steel-cut oats and has a better nutritional profile.  More protein, more fiber, more B vitamins, more iron.....

Nuts:  Assortment of almonds, walnuts

Seeds: Chia, Hemp, flax, and pumpkin

Berries: Gogi & Frozen blueberries

Cacoa nibs

And a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I truly think breakfast is my favorite meal of the day!

Breakfast:  I know it looks like a bowl full of berries, but it's not!  

This weeks homemade energy bar

To keep me fueled for my workouts, I try to make a batch of home made energy bars each week.  There is a time and place for store bought energy bars, however in my opinion, from a nutritional and certainly monetary standpoint, homemade always trumps store bought!  I typically make my super yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (stay tuned for recipe) or my Oatmeal bars (also stay tuned for recipe), but this week I whipped together something new.

-2 cups figs (can substitute dates)
-2 cups almonds (can substitute other nuts)
-4 tablespoons coconut butter
-1 scoop of my (current) favorite Protein Powder:  Raw Protein Chocolate Cacao (organic, vegan, gluten free, Non-GMO, dairy free) optional

Organic Raw Protein powder is my current protein powder of choice

Mix in food processor until a grainy consistency.  Flatten into a glass baking dish lined with wax paper.  Put in fridge.

Voila!

These bars definitely pass the taste test, but they do crumble in my pocket on rides 

which makes them kind of messy to eat.  Need to work on that!  

Maybe some almond butter to help them stick together?

Homemade Bone Broth

During chemo and radiation I started making a bone broth to use as stock.  The reported benefits of high quality bone broth are numerous including:

• inhibits infection/improves immunity
• help seal leaky gut/supports digestion
• reduces joint pain and inflamation
• fights inflammation
• promotes strong, healthy bones
• promotes healthy hair and nail growth

High quality bone broth is the key.  I have found some pasture raised, organic, grass fed frozen beef bones at Real Foods in Salt Lake.  

Making the broth is easy.  I place the bones in a crock pot and pour filtered cold water over them.    Add a few tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar (to help draw out nutrients from bone).  Cook on low for ~24 hours.  

I then add some carrots and celery to enhance flavor and cook on low for another 6-12 hours or so.  

The bone broth cooking

At this point, I strain out the bones, celery, and carrots and refrigerate the remaining broth until it is cooled and the fat has separated from the broth.  I then dispose of the fat and divvy up the remaining broth into small glass jars to be frozen.

Mini glass jars with homemade bone broth to be frozen and used later

I add a jar to my stock for a few meals a week, for example when cooking quinoa, rice, or a crock pot meal.  Flavor is good and the health benefits are exceptional!