Ice cream treat: strawberry shortcake "severe winter storm"

Ice cream is my FAVORITE!! I could eat it any time and any place. I will wear my winter jacket in the house so I can eat it in the winter and not freeze. I also have ZERO self control when it comes to ice cream. It may look like I'm eating a sensible amount but there is always some pre scooping and post scooping that never makes it into my dish. I wanted to celebrate the completion of the most recent challenge group with a treat. As a kid, going to DQ was always a favorite celebration spot, but yeah, kinda doesn't made sense to undo the hard work I'm celebrating! Yikes! I decided to experiment so I could splurge a little without overloading on sugar. I like my ice cream full of bits and pieces of extra goodness so the first step was to find a healthy cookie I could chop up. I found a vegan sugar cookie recipe on the Beachbody Blog (yay! Container math already done for me!) The pastry chef in me almost broke out in hives when I read "dash of baking soda" but the rest of the directions were clear and easy to follow. Super yummy too!! My usual go to flavors are peanut butter and chocolate. I think about peanut butter all day, everyday day! Mmmmmmm [insert dreamy sigh] but I'm also dreaming of REAL spring weather. That means lighter, fruity desserts. I decided to add strawberries to my banana ice cream puree and then fold in cookie bits to create a strawberry shortcake blizzard like treat. It was heavenly and yet I did not feel like bloated death after I ate it. I made one for the kids too. Sydney is my fruit lover so she went nuts over it. Nathan just wanted the cookies.

The Recipe:
2 large bananas sliced and frozen
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup fresh strawberries (thinly diced)
1 1/4 c plain Greek yogurt (divided)
3 vegan sugar cookies chopped up  Cookie Recipe Here

Measure frozen strawberries and let sit out for a couple of minutes so they are not rock hard. Place frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, and 1c yogurt in food processor and blend until you have a smooth, creamy mix. Fold in fresh strawberries and cookies. Divide into three dishes and garnish with remaining yogurt. Serve immediately. 

Container counts ( if using Beachbody cookie recipe):

2 purple 1/2 red 1/2 yellow 1/2 tsp

Carrot Cake: Naked in the Morning and dressed up at night

I had other plans for my next post because veggies (not overpowered by sugar) in our treats at this early stage of the game??? That's CRAZY talk!! Well, my to do list was making a carrot cake for someone else and muffins for the week. Laziness started to do the talking! I already had grated carrots EVERYWHERE and I could avoid washing the food processor multiple times if I stuck with the same main ingredient! Can you tell that I'm a spoiled pastry chef used to handing my dishes off to dish station? I did a real quick google search and found a recipe with ingredients I already had on hand. Here is the link:

healthy applesauce carrot muffins aka carrot cake muffins

 I knew that this one might take a bit of selling and/or bribing so I decided to call them "naked" carrot cake cupcakes to make them super appealing to my son. Clothes are torture and his clothes are often found around the house and NOT on his body. I figured calling anything naked would make it his spirit food ;)

Just as I suspected, the "naked" part really sold Nathan on them. He had not one but two for breakfast! My more modest Sydney was not interested in them at all.

I felt a little bad for the kids as they watched the carrot cake walk out the door without me even giving them a scrap to nibble on, so I did a little brainstorming for that night's dessert. I had baked off some left over muffin mix in small glass dishes. I decided to dress them up or top them with cinnamon "icing" wink! wink! I grabbed some plain Greek yogurt and poured in a splash of vanilla, a bit of maple syrup, and cinnamon to taste. Sydney loved it and didn't even complain about it being different than the carrot cake from the good but not really so good old sugary days! Nathan's life was ruined by the "icing" and doubling up on the maple syrup didn't help!! He made me promise not to put it on his naked carrot cake cupcakes ever again!!

I guess we can call this a win!?! They each liked one attempt! Starting the day with veggies is always a thumbs up and getting any veggies in Sydney is a miracle and a half!!

Good luck and let me know how it goes in your house with the icing!! Love it or do they try to change the locks on you???

"There's a green thing in my brownie?!?"

   And my response was "don't worry! It's suppose to be there... Hey, do you see that bird outside the window? No? Weird!"


  We haven't reached the part of our journey where I can openly discuss eating avocado, much less in their brownies. I'm working on it though! They knew that they were healthier!  The Brownie recipe came from the Teambeachbody.com website.  It was really easy to make. I did not have maple syrup on hand, but the prefect avocado was half a second from becoming rotten, so I just used honey and it worked. Don't try the batter and let the brownies cool completely (at least in my opinion!) I was slightly concerned that they would be rejected so I decided to make it extra special. I took several bananas, chopped them up, and placed them in the freezer overnight. Then once it was time for dessert, I quickly threw the frozen bananas in the food processor until they were all pureed and creamy. I used a muffin scoop and plopped some "ice cream" on the brownie. For a sauce, I warmed up a little bit of all natural peanut butter. You might need to add a teeny bit of coconut oil depending on your brand. Nathan did not want any peanut butter, but Sydney did. She said I put a little too much on. I guess that she is not quite the die hard fan that I am! I was so nervous when I handed over the bowls. I avoided eye contact so they wouldn't sense my fear. BUT THEY LOVED THEM!! In the words of Nathan, " DEEEELICIOUS!!"

Here is the link:
fudgy-avocado-brownies-recipe

Per Serving it's 1 yellow 1 tsp
with "sundae" you need to add 1 purple for banana ( I'm not exactly sure of the scoop size per banana so you'll have to keep track of how many you use and divide accordingly) also need to add another tsp if you go big and add warm Peanut Butter

A New (not so insanely sweet) Adventure

    On the off chance that more than my mom, sister, and closest friends read this, I'm going to introduce myself a little bit! Hi, my name is Jamie *waves awkwardly* and I'm a mom of two awesome and unique kids who have way to much energy and get up WAY too early ;) I am a Pastry Chef. I graduated with an associates degree in Pastry Arts in 2004.  And now.... life is a little weird(er) and I have a bit of a situation.
      It all started about 2 years ago. I saw my cousin posting stuff about 21 day fix and losing weight and feeling great. I had some baby weight hanging on for dear life. I had no game plan for exercise other than sometimes walking or busting out an old cardio DVD when the mood or snug jeans struck. I thought I ate pretty healthy, but I was having some doubts. I love me some carbs and sugar (obviously! I mean see occupation!) I went back and forth for a couple of months because I am SUPER CHEAP when it comes to spending money on myself. I finally signed up and I loved it! Sure, I lost some weight, but I was getting MUSCLES! Me? Muscles? Whaaaat?? I had energy and I didn't leave work every night bloated with a brownie scrap food bump! I committed to eating healthier and kinda... umm.... stopped eating my work.
       Recently, I decided to take it one step further and become a BeachBody Coach. I love, love it! It's a new way to meet people and connect.( it can be challenging to connect in the restaurant kitchen when you are a 30 something mom ready to go home and go to bed because you gotta teach jr Church in the morning and they are 20 somethings just started their nights!) I love cheering on my friends to feel better and make progress. There was just a little bit of a problem. I was REALLY starting to feel guilty about also being known as every one's favorite sugar supplier. Now before my coworkers panic, being a Pastry Chef at work doesn't really bother me. Judging by the all the times I write "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Anniversary" with chocolate on plates or by all the wedding music I hear blasting from the banquet rooms, the guests are celebrating very special moments and deserve to treat themselves a little, right? My usual cake orders are weddings, first birthdays, or showers. It's the whole being a Pastry Chef at home that really doesn't feel right anymore.  Eating healthy is not just about ME maintaining my weight and it's not just a personal choice. It's expanded and it includes my loved ones. I'm constantly learning more about food and fueling my body! It's a lifestyle want my kids to adopt. My daughter does not have my body type but I want her to be strong and have lots of energy and feel great. My son is the headstand champ and I want him to keep going and maybe move on from climbing all over our house to rock climbing.  So now what???
            I kind of stumbled around for a couple of weeks with a bit of an identity crisis! Could these jobs be anymore more extreme?? I thought about not really trying so hard to be a coach.. Even at the discount level, I'm still saving money. Bravery and change aren't really my jam. I was really trying to talk myself out of it. BUT being weird is my jam and a stubborn part of me wanted to find a way to make this work because how stinkin' weird is that job combo!  I still stumbled around without an idea for a while longer and then I bought way too many avocados and a recipe for Fudgy Avocados Brownies popped up in my news feed and I thought why not!?! It was a Beachbody recipe so if the kids hated it, it was fix approved and I could  freeze them and eat them all myself or share with a challenger (someone who joins my group and workouts at home with a program, eats healthy, and drinks Shakeology for 21 days fyi) I dressed it up a bit and turned it into a healthy brownie sundae and the kids loved it. That got me thinking! I can do this! I just have to dust off my creativity ( I can make truffles and chocolate cake in my sleep at this point) and use my skills/menu building knowledge and take new recipes and ingredients to make healthier desserts. Time to challenge myself and majorly expand my recipe collection!! I'll probably start out just sharing links to recipes and talking about my family's reactions because I feel like I'm back to my freshman days with a blank notebook and stiff chef coat. I have to start with basic recipes and then make them my own. I'll probably make a lot of mistakes. I might choose things that are not exactly the most healthiest of the healthiest, but I want them tasty enough that my kids will actually eat them!  Let's not forget, they are kids of a pastry chef. Now settle down, it's not like I was giving them creme anglaise in their bottles every night, but when they did get dessert, it reached a certain level because I'm pretty good at what I do. Also some of my biggest, most loyal fans are my Church family and I don't want there to be wailing and gnashing of teeth because they were expecting sticky buns and got a dry lump with a dirt like flavor called a "muffin" (finding something healthy to replace my famous sticky buns is like the Holy Grail by the way and I know at least a couple people are panicking right now! But I don't stop until it's perfect!)
           I hope that you can find a couple of good dessert and/or baked goods ideas for your family and feel like you can make changes for your family if the crazy pastry chef can! Also, I hope you are at least a little bit entertained because not everyone in my life is gonna be on board this with and I will share their thoughts as they taste test ;)  For example, my husband with his boxes of pop tarts hiding in the closet.


Disclaimer: it's probably going to be a of a phasing out process and we won't be perfect so don't pick up your pitch forks if you see us at the local ice cream place or eating chips at a picnic... We're trying for better.


PS I spend my days writing writing recipes and school calendars.. This won't be brilliant and the grammar might be scary! SORRY!