Working On My Fitness

Workout

I was doing really well with my diet/exercise routine until Christmas hit and then I went off-roading for awhile.  I can finally say I'm back on track and it feels good.  My brother is my trainer because he recently got into a good fitness rhythm and has lost a bunch of weight.  We've been stretching, exercising our core and hiking.  The hiking is the best part because we can take the dogs and they LOVE it!
Today we went all the way to the tip top of this hill:

Here's the view from the top looking down.

The dogs were in heaven!

Then we had to go down this roller coaster

Look how far behind I am!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my workout routine.  I've also been trying to eat better, which is hard (I'm eating lots of beans and salads), but totally worth it because I'm feeling great (except for the constant soreness).

Cooking With Sharmeela

Hello folks!  If you're anything like me, you love sugar, sweets, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate (did I mention chocolate?).  Today I'm going to teach you two simple, semi-healthy recipes to satisfy your sweet teeth (I don't know about you, but I have more than one) without totally inducing guilt.  

Recipe One:  Chocolate Shell

Have you ever gone to the store and bought Chocolate or Magic Shell?  You pour this chocolate syrup over ice cream and it hardens before your eyes and forms a (you guessed it!) chocolate shell.  It's delicious, but filled with chemicals and totally bad for you.  Well here's my homemade version, which I've been making for years thanks to Pinterest.

Here's what you need:

A microwave-safe bowl, chocolate chips and coconut oil.  Easy as pie!  Why do people say easy as pie?  Pie doesn't seem easy to make at all.  Okay, sorry.  Back to magic shell!  Put one cup of chocolate chips into the bowl:

Add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil:

Here's what we've got so far:

It really doesn't get easier than this.  Next, we put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  

Then stir.  It comes out like this:

At this point the oil is melted and now we just need the chocolate to catch up.  30 more seconds:

Stir and 30 more seconds:

Yipee!  We've done it!  Yup, that's right!  We're done.  Now we let it cool and transfer to a sealed container and store at room temperature.  

DO NOT REFRIGERATE!  It will harden and be useless (unless you want to munch on a hard block of chocolate, which I could totally still get down with).  If it does happen to harden (it is winter), just pop it in the microwave for about 15-30 seconds and it should be good to go!  Now, set that aside and let's move on to the next recipe.

Recipe Two:  COOKIES!

Don't get me wrong, these are definitely not Mrs. Fields, but when you're trying to be healthy and you find yourself craving sugar, this is the way to go!

First and foremost, preheat the oven to 350 degrees:

Okay, here's what you need:

A banana, some oats, chocolate chips (optional-but not in my world) and chocolate shell (also optional).  A single banana will yield about 6 smallish cookies, so double the recipe if you're having friends over (or if you're going to watch Steel Magnolias and just binge-hey, I speak from experience).  Peel the banana:

If you couldn't tell, this is literally step-by-step.  You don't even need to be able to read to follow these instructions, and that's the way I like it!  Who wants to read AND bake AND diet?!  It's way too much, so Saint Sharmeela is here to ease your burden.  Yes, I'm trying really hard to justify taking a picture of a banana in a bowl.   Moving on!  Now, mash your banana (I like to use my hands):

Now throw some oats in (I eyeball it, but it's prob about 1/2 cup).  You just want to coat the banana:

Now use a fork to mix them together.  Sort of mash the oats into the banana til they all stick.

Now we add the chocolate chips (again eyeball it...add more if you've had a particularly long day):

This is what your "dough" should look like.  It's going to be sticky, yet not enough for the chocolate chips to really stick.  Now I drop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (no need for parchment paper, they won't stick that much):

I flatten the cookies because they don't flatten themselves.  I also make them rather small. so I feel like if I eat 3 that only amounts to one real cookie.  It's psychology, people.

If the chocolate chips fall out, just stick them back in.  Now let's bake!  After about 10-12 minutes (I like to slightly brown the edges), this is what you get:

They look exactly the same as before you put them in!  Kind of anticlimactic, huh?  So, I let them cool and then put them on a plate for the final (and most awesome) step.

I'm gonna chocolate shell these suckers (optional)!

A drizzle would probably suffice for any normal person, but I'm not a normal person (in case you haven't figured that out by now).

OMG!  You can wait for the shell to harden, but why?  DIG IN!  Not only are they super tasty, but they're relatively healthy (minus the slather of chocolate shell).  After a good workout, this is what I need to make me feel just right.  I will say, they taste super fantastic right out of the oven and then just semi-fantastic when they're cold, which is why I tend to make just one banana's worth at a time.

Hope you enjoyed this episode of Cooking With Sharmeela.  Join me next week when I've given up on this diet thing and I'm eating a Big Mac while babbling incoherently through the tears!  Until then!