Cookie Monster

I love cookies. If I could have any dessert, ever, it would have to be chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookie, which is not a common cookie, but they are super duper delicious! I have experimented with a few different recipes and now that I have changed my eating habits to cleaner foods, I have had to get creative in the kitchen. A lot of the healthy recipes include mashing up a banana but mine aren't ripe yet, so I took my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from Smitten Kitten and substituted in healthy alternatives. This is what I have created and if I do say so myself, it is quite delicious! My revision is not 100% clean but pretty close!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-natural applesauce
2/3 cup unpacked light-brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 rounded-scoops Perfect Fit Protein
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cups coconut flakes

First mix the applesauce, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract together. In a separate bowl combine, Perfect Fit, baking soda, and sea salt. Next mix the wet consistency with the dry. Last add-in oats, chocolate chips, and coconut flakes. Now pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and stick your cookie dough in the refrigerator until oven is hot. Spray the cookie sheet with non-stick spray and place the dough 2-inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool and then enjoy!

February. The Month of Loving Yourself.

     Girls. We are emotional, dramatic, catty, crazy, bubbly, critics, bitches, best friends, babies, tough, mean, happy, sad, strong, etc. basically every adjective ever created all wrap up into on beautiful body. And while we express all of our crazy,good and bad, onto and with others, we tend to only use the negative words on ourselves. Unfortunately, and I blame society for this, we as females will pick ourselves apart until there is nothing left. I'm sure even the goddesses like Jessica Biel and Jennifer Lawrence [girl crushes] will find something wrong with themselves and I think it is pretty stupid.
     With the Love Your Body challenge, we are of course working on health and fitness but also working on LOVING our bodies, which for some reason is so freaking hard to do. Now I worked hard on toning up my body in January, most days, and I do feel 10x better already, but there are days where I am just not feeling that hot. Last night as I was getting ready for a date with my boyfriend, I of course wanted to get a little dressed up. Its freezing outside so I chose leggings and a sweater dress. My make-up and hair were done and I was standing in the mirror looking at the finished product and all I was thinking is  "I look fat!" Now granted maybe the sweater dress wasn't as flattering as some other options but 10lbs ago I would have thought the same thing and that is just ridiculous. Because even though I am 10lbs lighter I saw the same thing and felt gross. Before I could get all upset and change my clothes, I stopped myself. I thought of Karena & Katrina, about Elle and her sticky notes, and about all the girls I am doing this challenge with. Those thoughts should NOT be crossing my mind, they should not be crossing any of our minds. I am taking care of myself and working out regularly and that alone should boost my confidence levels and besides I did look pretty! My hair was curled. My make-up was done. So I wore the dress. And even though I did not feel super confident at first, I pushed those thoughts away. Sam thought I looked great & I felt great [when I wasn't looking in a mirror] and that is all that mattered!
     It is sad that we have to make a conscious effort to push away those thoughts of negativity and compliment ourselves. I am not saying that you have to become this cocky, self-obsessed person, but no one should put themselves down, especially when we live in a world that will already happily do it for us. The fact of the matter is, we each have features that are unique and we should love them and embrace them.
At the beginning of this challenge, K&K wanted us to write down "5 Things You Love About Yourself" and if you are reading this now I encourage you to do the same. It can be anything! Body, Mind, or Soul. Make a conscious effort to notice those beautiful things about yourself! and after you make your list, check out one of my TIU sisters, Elle's video [HERE] about positive self-talk and her sticky-note challenge! Making that conscious effort to love on yourself will make the biggest difference in your life. Some days it may be harder than others but you are worth it and you are amazing and you are beautiful and it is about time YOU started realizing that!

Here is the 5 Things I Love About My Body that I posted on January 1st of this year!

 And this photo is at the bottom of the Love Your Workouts section in the ToneItUp! app. A beautiful reminder everyday!

Thanks for reading!