Cleaning Up my Favorite Cookies!

One of the things that I've been most excited about since starting on this clean eating journey has been trying out new recipes! Especially baking recipes ;)

Baking is one of my absolute favorite things to do, especially when I get to eat what I've baked! Only, I always seem to go overboard with the eating part of the process, which isn't exactly conducive to a healthy lifestyle :p

So on Sunday, I decided to have a crack at cleaning up one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes- chocolate chip cookies!

A classic, but I'll never be bored with them!

To clean these up, I knew I would have to replace lots of ingredients like the butter, white flour, and tonnes of sugar. I did a little research (mostly on Pinterest!), and came up with a recipe which I think worked out absolutely deliciously :D

To make these cookies, you'll need:

• 2 cups of rolled oats, or quick-cook oats if you prefer
• 2 really ripe bananas, mashed 
• 2 eggs, whisked in a bowl
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 2 packets of stevia
• 2 tbs of ground almonds (optional- I love the texture and the taste!)
• 1/2 a cup of dark chocolate chips
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

First, mix together your oats, bananas, eggs, and ground almonds together in a great big bowl

Your oats may appear a little dry at this point, but don't worry about it! As you keep mixing the oats will absorb more of the wet ingredients and will turn out fine. Don't do what I did and add in water! This made my dough become really sticky and hard to roll!

Secondly, add in your baking powder and baking soda and mix thoroughly. This helps the cookies to rise a little, and gives them more of a traditional 'cookie' texture.

Next, add in the good bits! The sugar, stevia, and chocolate chips! Mix the whole lot together, and your batter is all ready!

Line a baking sheet with baking paper, roll out tablespoon-sized balls and spread as many as you can out on the baking sheet. 

Flatten the cookies out a little bit, and then pop them into a 180 degree oven, on 'fan bake'. They won't spread out on the tray at all, so don't worry about that! These cookies will take about 10 minutes to bake, and should be left to cool on a wire rack (if you can wait that long!).

The end result is a delicious, chewy, chocolatey cookie which tastes nearly exactly like a banana chocolate chip muffin! But even better, these cookies are much kinder to your health than a muffin or traditional chocolate chip cookies!

There are so many variations you could make to this recipe! Adding spices, vanilla, grated apple, whatever takes your fancy!

I think next time I'll try mine with some peanut butter added in- yum!

These cookies are high in fibre and protein, and MUCH lower in fat and sugar than traditional chocolate chip cookies! What's not to love??

So you see, eating clean and healthy doesn't mean giving up desert, or missing out on your favorite treats! All it takes is a little thought, and a few clever swaps here and there, any you don't have to miss out on anything!

I'm off to enjoy one of these tasty treats with my evening cup of green tea :)

Hope you all enjoy these cookies as much as I have!

Getting Started with Green Smoothies

The first time I really became aware of these things called 'green smoothies' was when I discovered Kris Carr, who is pretty much the Wonder Woman of green smoothies!

You can check out her blog, KrisCarr.com, right here, I highly recommend it!

Seeing the ingredients going into these smoothies really freaked me out! The kale, the spinach, the cucumbers, the broccoli, the goodness knows what else! All raw, all liquidized, all icky!

(Did I mention I've grown up with an aversion to lots of green veggies? Especially when they're raw!)

So when I saw Kris talking about these, and so many other well-known people in the clean eating 'gang', for whom I have immense respect, I thought they were nuts!

Completely nuts.

But then again, there did seem to be an awful lot of benefits to drinking green smoothies...

Lots of fibre, easy to digest, a huge hit of chlorophyll, really filling, loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, loads of magnesium, zinc, potassium, great for weight loss, a natural source of energy, a sneaky way to increase your veggie intake, helps with blood purification, decreases inflammation, anti-aging properties... Need I go on??

And then again, they do seem to enjoy them..

Maybe they're actually ok?

Maybe I should just try one?

Yeah.

Ok.

JUST DO IT!!

So this was the thought process which brought me to trying my first ever green smoothie.

I would really recommend this smoothie to anyone who wants to have a go with green smoothies, or who may be looking for an easy way to increase the health benefits of their breakfast.

This is what I call my 'Hulk' smoothie!

You can make it as big, or as small as you like! As loaded, or as simple as you want :D And believe me, this will get you off to such a great start in the morning that you'll be shouting "HULK SMASH!" at everything that gets in your way ;)

For the basic recipe you'll need:

• One medium banana, sliced and frozen
• 1.5 cups of baby spinach (trust me!)
• One to two cups of unsweetened almond milk (depending on how thin/thick you like your smoothies)

That's it! Easy, huh?

Stick the whole lot in a blender, and blend until smooth :)

The basic recipe is tasty, filling, and there's no way you can taste the spinach, I promise! (Believe me, there is NO way I would drink this if I could taste the greens!)

There are no end to the changes you can make to this recipe.

For the version I made in this photo, I added a large tablespoon of peanut butter and two teaspoons of ground flaxseed for added protein, fibre, and healthy fats.

Other great additions include frozen berries (especially blueberries!), almond butter, coconut oil, coconut water, chia seeds, ground LSA, low-fat Greek yoghurt, coconut milk, sliced almonds, raw oats, stevia, cinnamon, walnuts, pure maple syrup, protein powder, spirulina powder, the list goes on and on!

This is such a simple recipe, and once you've enjoyed your first green smoothie you can start getting creative with what you put in, and really tailor it to suit your individual tastes!

I hope this recipe helps to get some of you guys along the road to enjoying green smoothies and great health!

I'd really love to hear how you get on with this recipe, if you love it or (eek!) I've got it totally wrong :p

I'd also love for you to share any green smoothie recipes that you love!