It's Baking Season

Usually I start to do a lot of baking and cooking experiments during Fall/Winter. But with my training I've had very little time to do so. Sunday's is my only full day in the kitchen when I'm food prepping for the week.

Yes... I have a slight pumpkin addiction. & don't say "eww" to the Vegan Pumpkin Mac & Cheese till you try it! Or if you don't like pumpkin, then I understand. 

But I found this recipe & had to try it right away!

Gluten-Free, Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Glaze

Recipe adapted from Fitsugar.com

Makes 12 Cupcakes

Ingredients

For cupcakes:

1/3 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup nondairy milk (soy, almond, or rice) *I used Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup chocolate chips *I used Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips (dairy, nut & soy free)

For glaze:

1/4 cup brown rice syrup or honey *I used honey

1 tablespoon margarine or coconut oil, melted *I used Earth Balance Vegan butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch ground cinnamon (optional)

Directions

To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Whisk together oil, sugar, nondairy milk, and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently whisk flour mixture until well combined. Fold in pumpkin, but do not overstir or the batter will become gummy. Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake for 24-26 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely.

To make icing: Whisk together honey, margarine, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a fork, drizzle icing atop completely cooled cupcakes.

There they are in all their glory! They came out so good! My PIC even liked them, "I was expecting them to taste like cardboard!"

The only thing I would do different is since I used mini chocolate chips, use 1/3 cup next time. These kind of chips are actually pretty sweet & it was a bit too much. Also... no matter how cute the cupcake liner is  NEVER USE DOLLAR STORE CUPCAKE LINERS! I got all excited because they had candy corn on them... had to have them! Bad idea. Had to cut the cupcake out of the liners to eat them.

Hope everyone has a great night!

Wedding Bells

Since I have a bit of down time before my friends Halloween party I figured I'd do a little catch up!

Last week was absolutely insane. My workout schedule was way off (missed three days of cardio / doubled up back & shoulder days), eating was on course until friday & saturday night. It was all for a good reason though... Celebration time!

My best friend / P.I.C. got married! I still can't believe it came & went already. The Bride looked absolutely gorgeous, the weather was perfect & the ceremony/reception were so beautiful. Also, two years of stressing about doing her make up... I did a damn good job. Sho & Mike are the most amazing people & I was so honored to be apart of their special day.

Now with that said, time to get back on track with training, get my home put back together (looks like a storm blew through) & relax! I was a bit on edge this week because I was so disappointed in missing workouts & giving into "temptations." I have fantastic self control, but one minor slip up it's real hard for me to stop. Luckily, I talked with my trainer Whitney & also the always supporting "family". I really didn't think I could lift myself out of this one. I'm thankful for the support I have from them. Things get tough, but don't doubt yourself. Take a breath, refocus & get moving!

Happy to say I was at the gym by seven this morning; shoulders, legs, cardio & tomorrow I'll have off. So next week it's back to the grind hardcore! I got to do this!

Checking In

I didn't forget about you! Just been trying to adjust to this new schedule. It's slightly kicking my ass since I'm a night owl, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Almost one week down of this plan & wonder what the next will look like. Hoping I get more food options.

My supplements finally arrived Tuesday so I started taking them a day later as directed with my plan. I'm not suppose to have a "cheat" the first two weeks on this pretty strict meal plan but the other night I was ravenous so i had some extra almonds & a serving of brown rice. Water was not helping my rumbling belly. But otherwise I have been following it to a "T". I can be very disciplined when I want & you need a lot if you are doing this.

Wooo! Presents! Thank you bodybuilding.com!

One thing I have noticed though is I'm starting to go through the "roller coaster" as I've read about from some articles. This is a tough lifestyle change & you have to be willing & mentally ready to do it. I've already thought about giving up because I hate feeling the high/lows. I just like the highs! I'm a happy person. But I wont give up. I know I'm strong enough to do it whether its just me that believes or only two other people. I got this!

Tomorrow I will go more in depth about the above. Right now I need to hit the sack, 6AM cardio comes early!

Night everyone!

This was my delicious dinner. I love steak night! & I must admit
I'm pretty badass at grilling ;)