Alright, y’all, I have a confession to make… I’ve been dieting. Well, not really dieting, dieting doesn’t work. What I have been doing is watching my calorie intake and trying to maintain in the 1200-1500 per day range since last Monday. I lost three pounds in nine days between eating fewer calories (by eating better foods and smaller portions) and increasing my activity levels.
Now I am not going to promote anything that I’m doing as a cure-all, definite, proven way to lose weight and get in better shape. What I am going to do is tell you guys that last Monday when I started my new plan, I weighed 135.2 pounds at only 5 feet tall, and that’s too much. Especially when the camera adds 10 pounds because of lighting and angles and other fancy video production terms. Also what I will tell you: my pants are already fitting better again.
Part of my new eating and exercise plan includes mainly getting sugars from foods. Whatever’s in my 1 fruit serving, 1 starch serving, or any of my vegetable servings. And whatever’s in the honey that I put in my tea. Sugar has always been my weakness, but until the last few years, I’ve always been active enough where my weight wasn’t a problem. Now I’m in danger of having to buy a whole new wardrobe a size up, and I can’t afford that.
So what’s a girl to do when she wants a delectable snack, but is monitoring her calorie count? She makes some giant cookies and counts that as her starch and fruit servings for the day. And not that I expect any of you to go on a diet with me, most of my blog posts will continue to be my usual fare, but today I’m going to share my giant cookie recipe just in case you want to drop a couple pounds before swimsuit season and need a treat.
Ingredients:
½ stick butter, softened
¼ c. packed brown sugar
1 c. peanut or almond butter
2 bananas, slightly overripe
1 c. honey & vanilla flavored Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 c. gluten-free steel-cut oats
½ c. quinoa
½ c. coconut flour
½ c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Directions:
- In large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in nut butter, bananas, yogurt, and egg.
- In separate bowl, mix together oats, quinoa, coconut flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
- Add dry mix to wet one third at a time, incorporating fully before the next addition.
- Stir in chocolate chips, then place mixture in refrigerator at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Dish cookies out onto lined cookie sheet in large scoops. Allow room to spread.
- Bake at 350° about16 minutes, or until cookies spread and tops begin to set.
- Cool on pan 3-4 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
Okay, so maybe it’s not so much a cookie as a round snack bar. But it’s got protein and fiber with just a little added sugar, and some fat to keep you from getting hungry again until dinner. I’m trying to keep what I eat categorized into things like proteins, fruits, vegetables, starches, and “enhancers,” so two of these cookies takes care of a starch and a fruit for me.
Obviously there’s no preservatives in these cookies, so if you’re going to keep them around for more than a couple days, stick them in the freezer. They should thaw in time for your afternoon snack in a backpack, purse, or desk. Please leave your thoughts in a comment below, or get in touch with me directly by filling out the form on the contact page.
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