Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Recipe adapted from Detoxinista to be FODMAP free. These are seriously amazing and taste like pumpkin peanut butter cake!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan. Mix all ingredients together until smooth and pour into baking pan. Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are slightly brown and start to pull away from the pan.

For the Icing:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp almond milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• sprinkle of cinnamon

Stir together ingredients until smooth. Apply a thin layer over over un-sliced pumpkin bars. Once set, slice and serve!


*Tip: I like to use coconut oil to grease baking pans. It's healthier than many other oils and contains good fats which boost metabolism and aid in digestion, among many other benefits. Watch out for cooking sprays which may contain wheat.

Hello 2013

The new year brings a fresh start- a time to reflect on who you are, who you want to be, and things you want to accomplish. Although I enjoy setting goals for myself year round, the beginning of a new year is the perfect time to map out where I want to go with my fitness. Some fitness goals I'd like to accomplish this year:

1. Run another Half Marathon. In particular the Horsetooth Half because there's so much damn climbing and it scares the crap out of me.
2. Learn to row.
3. Participate in my first Dirty Dash. Mud, obstacles, SLIP n SLIDE?! Yes please.

This got me thinking too... if I'm going to do endurance sports, I'm going to need some kind of sports drink/supplement/energy bar. And it's going to be tough to find a FODMAP friendly one. Most of them have artificial sweeteners, agave, honey, inulin, or whey. So far there are 2 products I've found that I can safely eat. One is Bobo's Oat Bars (just avoid the apricot and peach flavors). These babies are delicious and great when you're on the go and need a snack or before/after a workout. (Although I prefer to make my own oat bars from scratch. Oat bar recipes to follow.)The second product is Sharkies. They're sweetened with rice syrup and grape juice concentrate. Just make sure not to eat the whole bag at once.

Woohoo! Can't wait to start training!