Carrot Cake Energy Balls

Ask me what my favorite cake is and I’ll immediately exclaim, “Carrot Cake!” This is my adult answer. My inner 10-year-old silently responds with “Funfetti Cake.” Not gonna lie, that pure white cake scattered with rainbow sprinkles makes me smile. But carrot cake? That’s just pure goodness. Or as Tom Haverford would say, “a big ole cookie.”

This is one excited face ready to devour a carrot cake:

I’ve made my own carrot cake once. It took a long time and I made a huge mess. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe for someone really freaking special. In the meantime, I’ll keep making a (much) healthier and quicker version.

Carrot Cake Energy Bites

adapted from Baking Serendipity

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 raw almonds, quartered (or chopped)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup milled flaxseed
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup maple syrup

Preparation

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together oats, shredded carrots, almonds, raisins, flaxseed, and cinnamon.
2. Add almond butter and maple syrup and stir until evenly combined.
3. Place mixture in refrigerator for at least one hour.
4. Shape mixture into one-inch balls. Makes about 18-20.

This is the next best thing to carrot cake, I promise. Not only do you get a similar flavor from them, you get natural energy! Toss one back before a workout and you’re golden.

Toss two back and you might explode with happiness.

Rosemary, Walnut, and Raisin Crackers

Over the Summer I fell head over heels in love with the Rosemary & Raisin Crisps from Trader Joe’s. My grandmother had them in her pantry, and since then, I’ve bought many, many boxes. But at $3.99 a box (containing just 5 servings), this love affair was doing damage to my budget. It was time to make my own.

Now I’m sure many of you are thinking “Make your own crackers? What? Impossible.” In fact, while I was making these my little brother said, “You can make crackers at home? I thought you need a machine or something.”

I did a little research, stalked a few blogs, scanned the ingredient list on the box of crisps, and got to work on making my own crackers. After a few batches, I had a recipe that I was very happy with. Perhaps too happy, as the crackers seem to disappear much faster than I can burn them off.

Rosemary, Walnut and Raisin Crackers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup skim milk + 1 tbsp. lemon juice)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup raisins, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1 tbsp. fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 350*. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add buttermilk and sugar and stir just until combined.
2. Add raisins, walnuts, flax seed, and rosemary and stir until evenly mixed.
3. Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been coated with nonstick spray. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling.
4. To slice the bread, it has to be completely cooled. Sticking it in the freezer for an hour helps speed up this process. Next, slice the loaf as thin as you can and place in a single layer on a baking sheet.
5. Reduce heat to 300* and bake for 15 minutes. Flip crackers over and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Makes about 4 dozen crackers.

Don’t be weirded out by the flavor combo. I, along with Sierra, will attest that it is incredible and pretty mind blowing with a chunk of goat cheese. Yes, we went there. You’ll love these so much, you’ll want to eat the whole batch in a day. It’s probably a good idea to package some up for your neighbor, best friend, professor…anyone with a mouth, really. Aside from tasting so similar to the Trader Joe’s crisps, your wallet and your schedule will thank you. They’re much cheaper to make at home, and mixing the batter takes about 5 minutes.

Do it. Do it. Do it.

And then report back. I know you’re going to tell me that you loved them and you had no idea how easy it was to make crackers at home.

Which baked goods are you too intimidated to make at home? One day I’ll make macarons. One day.

What’s your favorite thing to bake? Cookies!

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Squares. Impulsive or Spontaneous?

First, I need to clarify something from my obnoxious gym photographs post. I didn’t mean that I work out solely so that I could eat more. I absolutely love working out for fun and because of the health benefits. Being able to eat more is just an added bonus.  And I also do not go straight home and stuff my face with chocolate. I eat a protein-rich, balanced meal to refuel and indulge in my much-deserved goodies later.

Moving on. Wednesday night Lucy and I were up to the usual: internetting with the TV on some random channel. Gah, are we losers? Neither of us wanted to work out, so we started drinking white wine with dinner and perused Whole Foods’ latest issue.Do yall read these? You should. Each issue contains several recipes, weekly meal planners, nutritional information and tips. I was catching up on my google reader when this conversation occurred:

Lucy: Oooh, listen to this recipe: Apple Cinnamon Oat Squares…

Me: Let’s make it. What’s in it?

Lucy, giggling: almond milk, oats…

Me: Ok, let’s make it right now. I’m impulsive. Er, spontaneous. Idk, whatever, let’s do it.

We scanned the ingredient list, and lucky for us, we had everything…but almond milk. We needed 2 cups, and I only had 1/2 cup left in the fridge. We debated quartering the recipe, but instead of taking the chance of baking fugly bars, we drove over to Whole Foods.

Less than 30 minutes later, we were back with almond milk. Oh, and four bottles of wine. You know, for a snowy day.

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Squares

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 (about 1 lb.) apples, cored and grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Dry ingredients:Apple, shredded in my food processor!

2. Transfer mixture to a foil- or parchment paper-lined 9” square baking pan, press down and smooth out the top. Bake until firm and golden brown, about 1 hour.3. Let cool in pan; cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.I ate mine topped with coconut flakes and drizzled with honey.

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but Lucy is vegan. Slowly but surely, I have been training her how to be a baker and she has been introducing me to vegan recipes. Tonight we joined forces and made a really easy and delicious treat. These squares can be eaten warm or even cooled for breakfast or a snack. Store them in an airtight container to be enjoyed throughout the week.

So the question of the night is…am I impulsive or spontaneous? Immediately after calling myself impulsive, I corrected myself saying I was spontaneous. I feel like the word “impulsive” has a negative connotation but I’m not sure why, so I looked up the definitions.

I don’t see much of a difference. What do you think?

Question: About what kind of things are you impulsive/spontaneous? I am with anything related to baking/cooking/eating. Once I have an idea in my head, I have to do it. Life if short…just go with it.

Before I say goodbye, check out these pics from when Auburn stole the National Championship. We were soooooooo happy! (And I’m Asian again!)

I love my bestie and am so glad she got me hooked on college football!

Feeling better already...!

Day 3 of Operation Goddess complete! Woohoo! I swear I feel better already, haha.

Here's what I ate throughout the day:

Breakfast: 1/3 cup oat bran + 1/3 cup milk + 1/3 cup water + 1/2 banana, topped with a couple cranberries, walnuts and pumpkin seeds and green tea
Snack: 1/2 banana
Lunch: 1/2 pita pocket with rosemary ham, cheese, dijon mustard. Small bowl of spinach with raspberry balsamic dressing
Snack: apple
Before working out: couple bites of last night's food bc my stomach was growling

After I worked out, Brandon came over. We threw together yummy salads that consisted of spinach, chicken, sliced peaches, cranberries, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. Yummy!


I will try to do a better job of taking pics of everything I eat. It's so much more fun than reading text. Night guys!

Oat Bran Obsession

Uh oh...I have a new obsession.

After reading about Oat Bran all over Jenny's blog, I picked some up at Whole Foods last weekend. I only scooped up a little bit for Brandon and me to try because I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Turns out I'm in love, and I went back and bought like 2 lbs of the stuff...for now. It took me about 4 tries to get it right, but I think I have it down. Like oatmeal, you can mix anything in it. But it has more fiber! Exciting! Some of the things I've added so far are banana, almond butter, jelly, flax seed, cinnamon, apple pie spice, and brown sugar. (Not all those at once obviously).

Here's the combo I like best:
-1/2 banana, sliced thin
-1 tbsp almond butter
-1 tbsp blueberry jelly
-1 tbsp flax seeds

Perfección en la boca!


Is there a way to not be so clumsy? It's getting old. While the oats picture was uploading, I went to fill up my camelbak. It still had a little water in it, and as I was unscrewing the top, I dropped it. It bounced and splashed water all over my legs. NICE. Let's not even discuss the awful burn on the back of my arm from ironing last week, or the two iron burns from the week before, or the burn on my knuckle from the rotisserie chicken warmer at Whole Foods. I guess that's why my friends still call me a hot mess.

Happy Wednesday!