Power snack muffins!

I've had a request to post this recipe for a good "portable" snack that's full of nutrients (vegetables and nuts and healthy fats). It's a great snack for on-the-go as well as a post-workout boost when you've just depleted your energies.

Today was one of those amazing fall days, perfect for running in shorts. The trails that I run on were ridiculously busy today and I usually get super annoyed with people who take up the whole entire path and who ignore my running footsteps, but today I saw it as a pretty awesome obstacle course.

I was zipping past people like my legs just couldn't be stopped. What? There's a mountain up ahead? That's not going to stop me. Watch me run up it while you leisurely stroll along with your entire extended family and your individual walking sticks. Today I was unstoppable. I got to the top of that hill and just kept going. It's days like this that give me the motivation to run as often as my legs will let me.

I think we all need that. That success of working out and feeling amazing afterwards. It doesn't matter what you do to get that feeling. Maybe you get it after an hour of hot yoga when you're laying on your mat at the very end of class; All sweaty and your muscles are buzzing with happy vibes. Find it. Find that happy post-workout bliss and remember it!

Now after you have that amazing blissful feeling, it's time to recharge and give back to those muscles that just worked so hard for you. Here's my post-workout portable snack, full of deliciousness.

Veggie power paleo muffins

Makes 6 muffins (for 12 muffins, double all ingredients, but use 3 extra large eggs instead of 2 large ones)

1 1/4 cup almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated carrots (peeled)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated (OR substitute for 1/2 cup diced strawberries)
2 large eggs
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or avocado oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: 1 scoop protein powder - add a splash of almond milk to the mix to make up for the extra powder/dry ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups.
In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add zucchini, carrot, apple/strawberries and combine well.
In a small mixing bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, honey and vanilla.
Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon into muffin cups (right to the top) and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. The tops will be nice and toasted brown.
Remove from pan and let cool.

The muffins can be stored in the fridge (the muffin cups peel off nicer when they're kept in the fridge, but the muffins themselves stay softer and more moist at room temperature).

As pictured, I like cutting them in half or thirds and smearing almond butter on top. Delicious!!

Kicking Fruit Loops in the face!

It's really sad to walk through a grocery store and realize just how many wheat-based breakfast options there are. Just glance down the cereal aisle and look at the ridiculousness that we feed our children each morning: A box full of sugar, artificial flavour, artificial colour (reminds me of that song "Fruitcake" by the Superions - YouTube it... it's hilarious!) and wheat.

I never questioned it growing up and no one knew any better. I grew up with Kool-Aid, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops and Kraft Dinner as household staples. Everyone did at the time.

Well my fox friends, there is a much better way to do breakfast but first you need to reinvent the idea of breakfast. First off, it doesn't have to be the "smallest" meal of the day. Nor do you have to wake up an hour early and slave away in the kitchen, taking away from precious sleep.

Last night before bed I chopped up a bunch of veggies, seared some stewing beef and threw it in my slow cooker with some organic chicken broth (by Pacific Foods - one of the only broths without all the extra garbage in it). I set it on low for 8 hours... and when I woke up, the smell of yummy beef stew filled the house and I had the most amazing breakfast waiting for me.

 A small bowl of this before leaving the house and my tummy was warm and happy! I got my protein and my nutrients and a great start to my day. Not to mention the fact that something as hearty as this is really filling. So I won't be having a carb crash at 10 or 11am... nor will I crash at 3pm.

This is what I love the most about Paleo: I have energy back in the morning, and I feel so much better throughout the day. Not to mention the pride I get from making and eating something this good. My stew kicks Toucan Sam in the face!

Think this is too much work? I'll break it down:

1) I set up my cutting board and my chef's knife and lay out all the veggies that I need, while my stewing beef is sitting on the countertop.

2) I keep a compostable bag next to my "work station" to throw peels and scraps in for easy cleaning up as I go along.

3) Chop veggies, throw them in the slow cooker. In this batch I used:
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Turnips
- Zucchini
- Garlic
- Mushrooms

4) Sear beef on all sides in a pan/pot to lock in the juices, then toss into the slow cooker.

5) Take my tetrapak of chicken broth and pour it over everything. (Okay, so maybe it's more of a soup than stew, but seriously... look how hearty it is... I'm calling it a stew).

6) Set the timer for 8 hours on low. Wake up, season with S&P, and eat a bowl of deliciousness.

There's no reason why breakfast needs to be wheat-based or sugar-based. It's time to boycott sugary artificial cereals and think outside the box (haha). Breakfast can be any food you want!

I'm pretty sure the saying is "Champions eat breakfast"

When did everyone stop eating breakfast? Seriously.

I mean, I remember being a teenage girl and would feel kinda nauseous at the thought of food in the morning, but I was 15. I remember my dad (when he found out about this and that being the reason I wasn't eating breakfast) telling me that he would get me ANYTHING I wanted for breakfast, as long as I ate something. He even offered to bring me a box of doughnuts from Tim Hortons if I would eat it... Which is disgusting, but I love my dad and I appreciated his concern and thoughtfulness more than he'll ever know.

I had this intuition though that I needed to eat something. I mean, I couldn't go my entire life without eating something first thing in the morning. Otherwise my body wouldn't be able to function properly - or at least, that was my understanding. And at 15, this was very philosophical of me.

So I did my best. I tried different things and eventually fell in love with Special K and skim milk. Both of which would make me sick now being Gluten-free/dairy-free, but that was my breakfast food and I loved it every single morning for about 5 years.

The word "breakfast" literally means to "break fast" - as in, we fast our bodies all night while we sleep, which is good and healthy, but as soon as we wake, our bodies need fuel. When we're "fasting" we're resting, but when you get up and go you're now using up energies that you haven't given your body yet. And really, I work incredibly hard to build and maintain my muscle mass, so why on earth would I want to deprive my body and tell it to start breaking down my muscles for fuel? Granted, this only occurs after longer periods of fasting, but it seems incredibly counter productive, and there's no way I want to stress out my body like that. 

Food is magic. I truly believe it's the most amazing thing for our bodies (exercise comes in a close second... or it might be a tie... oh man, it's so hard to decide which one I love more!). What you put into your body can completely change you: your mood, your energy, your body composition, your mental capabilities. So if there's a chance that eating breakfast will give you more energy and make you feel happier, why aren't we all doing it? Why is it such a chore to force ourselves to eat something in the morning, and yet we're all happy to scarf down a huge meals late in the evening when our body needs it the least?

If you're not eating breakfast right now, I want you to experiment. For 2-4 weeks, eat breakfast everyday and see the difference for yourself. Worried about time constraints and actually making something? Here's a list of some of my favourite things to eat for breakfast, though there are so many other dishes you could also choose from:

• Eggs!
•  If you're not intolerant, there is sooo much you can do with eggs. Frittata takes 10 minutes. Just scramble raw eggs in a bowl, throw into a heated skillet with coconut oil, top with whatever veggies or met you like, then cover on very low heat for 10 minutes until the eggs have completely cooked.
• Scramble them, they're delicious. Top with fresh dill or your favourite herbs/spices.
• Make them over-easy and eat with toast. Food For Life makes my favourite brown rice (GF) bread. 
• Hard boil them and take them to go!
• Soft boil them and dip pieces of toast in the nice soft yolk - which is something my mom would do for me as a little kid.

• Gluten-free toast - really, if you're not intolerant you can have real wheat toast, but I always recommend GF over wheat because the gluten is not friendly to all of our GI tracts. 
• Smear some nut butter over it - almond butter is my fav! But sunflower butter is equally amazing. 
• Skip the Smuckers and opt for a sugar-free jam like Crofter's. Again, I'm happy if you eat anything in the morning, but if you're looking for healthier options, always read your labels and choose products without all the extra sugar. I mean, fruit is made of frutose, so why do we need to add even more sugar to it? It just doesn't make any sense people.
• Heat coconut oil in a pan, slice a banana, and place it in the pan on medium heat until the banana pieces soften and get slightly brown and crispy on the outside. Then put that on your toast. It's the most incredible banana creation where it's crispy on the outside, but soft and mushy on the inside. You could even combine it on toast with almond butter and bacon to make an Elvis.

• Left overs!
• Stews, soups, anything hearty that you had the night before, eat it for breakfast! That truly is a breakfast of champions - as long as it doesn't consist of fries or pizza. Though I don't know anyone who keeps fries as leftovers... they get all soggy and gross in the fridge. 

• Cereals - my mom swears by Quinoa flakes with honey and berries
• Smoothies - the best part about smoothies is that you can mix anything together and it will taste good.
• Blend almond milk with some water/ice, frozen fruit and a protein powder
• Fav protein powders: Sunwarrior (vegan), Provitalex by Cytomatrix (whey - but lactose free), Arbonne protein/meal replacement powder.
• Add 1/2 banana to make it even thicker and creamier.

• Ground pork sausage patties - HOMEMADE. Pick up some ground pork from you butcher so you know it comes from healthier and happier pigs. Put it in a large bowl and add seasonings like garlic, cayenne, chili powder, anything you like! Make them into small patties and just fry them (in a tiny bit of coconut oil) in a skillet. Eat them with avocado slices for an incredible breakfast!

Really, nothing here that I've mentioned will take more than 15-20 minutes to make. If you're worried about time (like with the pork patties), prepare everything the night before and just cook it in the morning. And if nothing above appeals to you, just grab a piece of fruit to eat on your way to work/school. Bananas are amazing because they come in their own packaging :)

Remember: Food is Fuel! What you put into your body will determine how it runs. If you have a Ferrari, you want to drive it around - which requires fuel. You also wouldn't fill it up with mud because Ferrari wouldn't like that and wouldn't work properly. Treat your body like a Ferrari.