Double Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins

During the holidays, my boyfriend and I went to Sudbury, to spend Christmas with family and friends. A friend of mine also made the trip down, and she got me the cookbook, Cook with Kindness by Chantal Coolen.

I tried out one of her recipes yesterday, which was the Double Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins and they are delicious. They are nice and moist, and it's all with healthy ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 cup sorghum flour (I used spelt flour)

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tablespoon ground chia seeds

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (made my own by blending half an apple in my blender)

1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup gluten-free vegan chocolate chunks (or chocolate chips if you prefer)

In a large bowl, combine sorghum flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, ground chia seeds, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. In a small bowl, combine zucchini, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir well. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 350F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

There are so many other recipes in this book that I want to try, especially the peanut butter cups showing on the cover of her book. Her book also has wonderful meals, drinks and snacks that I can't wait to try. Chantal Coolen is also Canadian, she grew up in Nova Scotia, and also has her own website, The Kind Cookie. 

About the Wellness Warrior

When I found out my mom had stage 4 cancer, I started to read/research more about it. I wanted to try to help in any way I could. I re-read the book, The Cure by Timothy Brantley, which I have read many times, but re-read it again, and then a friend of mine told me to do a search on the Wellness Warrior blog, and that opened my eyes even more on how good nutrition is so important.

Jess Ainscough was told she had a very rare form of cancer. It started in her hand, but when they fount it, it had spread through her arm up to her armpit. They wanted to amputate her arm, but instead she took matters in her own hand, and she went to Gerson, were she drank 13 juices (freshly made with organic vegetables) every day, and it's been 10 years and she's doing well. I bought her e-books and read more, and shared that information with my mom. My mom did lose the fight to cancer on June 29, 2013, but I am still researching more information, because cancer is on my dad's side, and my mom got cancer and would love to prevent myself from getting it. As well as wanting to have more energy, and feel a lot healthier. For years I struggled with lack of energy, and was often in pain with Endometriosis, and I'm doing better now, but would be nice to feel even better. Recently I joined in on a online broadcast with Jess, and it was interesting to hear her talk about her story, as well as how nutrition is important, but also that everyone is different. She talked about her mom, how she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She talked how her mom also started the same journey she did with Gerson, but when they took meat away from her diet, she got worse, there were more complications for her mom and unfortunately passed away last year. Some people don't do well with meat, but some do, and others might do better with certain foods when others don't. We are all different, but one thing is for sure is we all need to consume a lot more raw organic vegetables.

So once I read more on the Wellness Warrior, I started to add veggies to my all fruit smoothies, and I have made more changes, and do mostly vegetable smoothies with a fruit or two now. I even cleaned off my juicer that I haven't used in a long time, and made a vegetable drink. At first I found juices/smoothies ok, but now I love them. It has happened where I have done a bad mix and didn't taste good at all, but I have learned, and becoming better on what's good to mix together and what's not so good. For added nutrition, I also add spirulina, which doesn't taste that good, but adding a banana to the mix of veggies tends to help make the spirulina taste better, but I'm getting use to it and starting to love the taste of it. Maca powder is one that I haven't gotten use to the taste of yet, still not liking it so much, but I'm sure my taste buds will change. I also love to add Chia seeds (superfood), and flax seeds, bee pollen, goji berries, and also nuts. To help along all the ingredients in a smoothie, I either use almond milk, but most of the time I use coconut water, and you can always just add water.


Vegetables are very important, especially in their raw form, because cooking them does take away a lot of their nutrients. The best way to consume a lot in a day, is to add them to juices/smoothies. If you get the chance, check out the Wellness Warrior blog, it has a lot of great information.

Sugar...

Sugar is in so many things, and also very dangerous for our health. Sugar is very addictive and most of us consume way to much of it on a daily basis.

You will see sugar in many different forms, the usual white granulated sugar, or you will also see it on food labels such as fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, malt syrup, and so much more. Two great documentary to check out is Food Matters and Hungry for a change The best options to go for, is natural sugars found in fruits and vegetables, or go for honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, or coconut sugar. Over the weekend I made my own home made bars, they took me minutes to make and all I used was my food processor, and then I put it into a glass container. You have the choice of putting it in the oven or you can keep it raw, which is what I did for mine.

Ingredients: 

1 handful of almonds (soaked in water overnight - optional)
1 handful of Pecans (soaked in water overnight - optional)
1 tablespoon of almond butter
4 dried plums
1 handful of cranberries
2 teaspoon of agave syrup
1 handful of oats
1 handful of quinoa flakes
1 teaspoon of chia seeds

Put all ingredients into the food processor. If you soaked your almonds and pecans, remove water then add. Turn food processor on until well combined. If it's to wet, you can add more oats/quinoa flakes, if it's to dry, add more almond butter or agave syrup.

 Place into a dish and then cut into bar size pieces, or you can also roll them into balls, place it in the fridge so it will keep longer. You can consume right away.

 If you want to put this in the oven, then I suggest you add coconut oil to help it crisp up and brown. You just need to put it in a square oven safe container and should take about 15-20 minutes at 350F. Let it cool, then cut into bar size pieces and you can keep them in the fridge. You can also easily mix and match ingredients, you can add different nuts/seeds, you can also add peanut butter instead of almond butter (but please buy the natural peanut butter, and not the kind that is loaded with sugar). There are all sorts of nut butters in the grocery store, so play around and try out new ones to add different flavors to your bars. You can add raisins, cherries, dates, or any other dry fruit you want, as for the agave syrup, you can add maple syrup, coconut sugar, or honey instead. As for the oats/quinoa flakes, you can also add wheat bran, mix all three, or just add one or two of them. For extra fiber add some flax seeds. There are so many options, even adding dark chocolate to it. It's so easy to make, and you control what gets put in there.

Most bars have a lot of sugar, and a bunch of ingredients you can't even pronounce. There are so many recipes out there that are easy to make but don't include sugar. They have healthy ingredients, and will still get ride of that sweetness your craving. I found a brownie recipe, which I made changes to, and when I'm craving something warm, gooey and chocolaty, I make it, and the bonus is it's a one serving size recipe, so I can make one for myself and it helps satisfy my craving. I'll share that recipe in another post.

The New Year

Since we have just started the new year, I thought I would talk about new year resolutions because a lot of people tend to make eating healthy and exercise part of their resolution, but don't always end up sticking to it. I have had my share of being healthy and not so healthy through my life, but one thing that has changed me a lot is when I learned I had endometriosis, and even more when I found out my mom had stage 4 Cancer.

My new year resolution is again to eat healthy and exercise, as well as it being a year more about me. The past 2 years haven't been so good. In 2012, we lost a grandfather, and grandmother (in-laws), my dad had cataract, I got a cyst that had to be drained out, it came back and went to get operated on to try to remove it, but the doctor wasn't successful, then just before Christmas we found out my mom had stage 4 cancer. 2013 was being there as much as I could for my mom, and spent quite a lot of time at the hospital, and also researching as much information as I could about nutrition, and I moved up at work which was great, but at the same time it wasn't great timing because with everything going on, especially all the emotions, it was hard learning a new job, and it being very busy. So I was on auto pilot last year. When it came to the holidays I was able to get 2 weeks off which helped me a lot. I was completely drained, and now I feel much better. With everything I have learned, especially last year, along with taking part in helping a friend with her course to becoming a nutritionist, I have learned that I need to stop being so hard on myself, and I am now at peace with food.

So this year, I have started this blog, I have gotten back into exercising, and I have been eating a lot healthier. My other goals for the year is to train for a half marathon, which I plan to do in September, I need to get more organized at home, I will pamper myself and take time to relax and do some yoga. I also want to go hiking, and I got a piano from my parents last year, and I haven't had much time to re-learn to play (haven't played since I was a kid), so this year will be more about me, but of course still taking time to spend with family and friends.

Life is hectic and it's important to take care of ourselves, so we can be our best selves.

What are your new year resolutions?

Introduction

My name is Nicole and my journey started when I found out I have endometriosis. Once my boyfriend and I moved to Ottawa to go to school and have more job opportunities, I was often tired, and started to get pain in the abdominal area, so we went and found one amazing doctor. He found out I was anemic, and he sent me to see a gynecologist and that's when I found out I have endometriosis. I did lots of research and read a few books, which began my journey of healthier eating, and exercise. In 2013 I lost my mom to cancer (colerectal, spread to the liver, lungs, and lymph nodes) and I tried my hardest to get her to eat healthier to help her with the fight, but it was a very tough battle for her. During her fight, I started to do more research, and a friend of mine told me about a site and it got me believing even more in "we are what we eat", which I will tell you more about the wellness warrior in another post.

This blog will be about endometriosis, running, exercise, nutrition, and all sorts of things that have to do about wellness. I do love to read, and love spending time in the kitchen, which I will post some recipes. I haven't gone running in a while, but plan to start again, so I can run my second half marathon this year.

I will be taking some time to set this up the way I like it, but stay tuned for more posts.