Sleep has been a key for me lately, I slept 9 hours again last night, I love me some sleep! It’s nice to wake up and feel like I can get out of bed without dreading having to get up. Yay! My poor husband, who is not a morning person, likely doesn’t much care for the more awake energetic me in the morning. I think I talk more than he does, and that’s saying something!
Last night was a quick evening; I intended to do something, anything, creative. Instead I listened to music and cooked dinner. After I read a little bit. I’m reading The Hunger Games for my book club at work (I saw the movie but I love the book, I have a hard time putting it down!). I got so sleepy I was in bed and asleep around 8:15. It kills productivity at home but it sure does make me feel better.
On my commute into work today I was thinking about germs and sickness. There are a lot of people at my office that have been sick over the last couple of months. A good friend ended up with the flu, I drove her home from work one day because she just needed to get home (she takes the bus to avoid having to drive in our horrible commute). I’m probably going to jinx myself, but I haven’t caught anything. I am wondering why. I know my immune system is tired, maybe a little less so since I have been paying more attention to what my body is telling me it needs? I always hear people say that it makes a difference, what you eat, how much you sleep and exercise. I’m beginning to think that’s true. I have cut out something I know is harmful to my body, I limit sugar/sweeteners (I still have a daily square of really dark chocolate – thank goodness for individually wrapped Ghirardelli squares!), eat veggies with every meal and make sure I’m getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night. I haven’t mixed in regular exercise yet, but now that I am feeling better again the treadmill and I have a date scheduled this weekend. Anyway, just something to think about….though I still wonder. I have a sister-in-law that eats perfectly and is an exercise fiend and she’s been sick at least a couple of times this season. Hmmm….
Enough of that….it’s time for food! I found a recipe online for something called Chocolate Chip Cookie Dip. Here is where I admit that when making cookies more of the raw dough ends up in me than that baked cookie. At first I was a little skeptical about the recipe; the base is chickpeas or white beans. What? The things I use to make hummus? How is that even possible? Still, the idea that I could eat something that tasted like raw cookie dough and it would be healthy for me, I’m so in! It’s perfect for taming my sweet tooth and there is something really wonderful about being able to take a spoonful and just eat it without any guilt. The recipe with my adjustments (I omitted the oats/flax, didn’t add any milk and cut the sugar in half) is listed below, the original recipe is on a fantastic blog called Chocolate-Covered Katie (the healthy dessert blog), you will find it here: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/23/want-to-eat-an-entire-bowl-of-cookie-dough/ I haven’t tried anything else from her site but I see she has a special section of GF recipes that I plan to revisit (she has a recipe for black bean brownies that I have to try!)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dip
(adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie’s blog)
- 1 1/2 cups chickpeas
- 1/4 tsp salt
- tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup nut butter (I use peanut butter)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips (a couple more may have fallen in when I measured)
1. Drain and rinse the beans really well, at this point I rolled them around inside the colander and removed as many of the skins as possible though I don’t think you have to do that
2. Place all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor and let it go, stop when it looks well combined, scrape down the sides and let it go again
3. This is the point where you taste and see if you need more salt or sugar
4. Dump all of it into a sealable container and mix in the chocolate chips
5. Refrigerate…..and try not to eat it all at once!
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