Gluten Free Orange Oat Muffins

Since I royally messed up this recipe a couple months ago, I'd thought I'd give it another go now that I know a little more about gluten free baking. This time I used these ingredients:

• 1/4 cup grape seed oil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp orange carrot juice
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp minced orange peel
• 1 cup almond flour/meal
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup all purpose gluten free baking flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup raisins

Original recipe and cooking directions can be found here.

This muffin recipe really is incredible, definitely my favorite. Sorry blueberry almond meal muffins- I love you but you're in second place now.

Mmmmm Baked Tofu

Tonight I tried baking tofu for the first time. And I'm glad to say it turned out great! I could have eaten the whole pan.

The fried rice recipe is super easy. I made some jasmine rice (1 cup uncooked). Then I heated about 1/3 cup frozen peas and carrots in a wok with some sesame oil. Once hot I added the cooked rice, sweet potato (I baked this while the rice was cooking. Just peel, chop, lightly coat in olive oil and sea salt, and bake at 375 for 20 minutes), 2 tsp sesame oil, and 2 tbsp soy sauce to the wok, and heated until well mixed.

For the tofu I followed these directions, except I marinated in hoisin sauce and baked at 375 degrees.

Fitness Goal Update

I realized it's been quite a while since I mentioned my fitness goals and thought I'd give an update. The one I'm closest to reaching is the half marathon, which is on the 21st. It's been a really rough couple months of training due to knee and foot pain. The last time I was able to run was over a week ago so I decided to cross train while I let my foot rest. Cycling, weight training, and yoga have been helping, along with a new pair of badass shoes. Hopefully I'll be good as new in a couple more days and kick that half marathon's ass!

 Isn't Fort Collins pretty?

In May I'll be part of a team riding in a 12 hour mountain bike race. I've always wanted to do one so I'm super excited! Plus, the western part of Colorado has some of the best mountain bike trails I've ever ridden.

As far as rowing, I've been way too preoccupied with my training to even think about it. I still really want to learn, but it might be an adventure for next Summer. And the Dirty Dash isn't until August so I still have plenty of time to register.

On top of my fitness, I'm still working on getting my tummy to a healthy place. I started seeing a dietician and she has helped me tremendously. I'm finally starting to feel good more often than bad, and it's a lot easier to pinpoint the foods that irritate my gut. And through this whole journey, although extremely tough, I have discovered something pretty awesome... I want to become a Wellness Coach. During the past 5 months I have been at rock bottom and also the most inspired. All I want is to be able to help other people feel good and give them the tools they need to live healthy and balanced lives.

Granola Bar Cookies

I'm a big fan of baking with whatever random items I happen to have in my kitchen. That's how this cookie recipe turned into this one! It's yummy AND full of protein and fiber.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used 1/8 cup white and 1/8 cup brown this time)
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. Combine all ingredients well. Place "dough" on cookie sheet (make whatever size cookies you want). Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Low FODMAP Quinoa Chili

Recipe heavily adapted from MyRecipes
Ingredients:

• 4 tsp grapeseed oil (or olive oil)
• 1/2 a red or orange pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic salt (if garlic is not tolerated use 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup vegetable juice
• 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (not the sweet or creamed kind)
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (4 ounces) fire roasted diced green chilis

In a large pot, sautee zucchini and pepper in grapeseed oil. Once veggies are tender (about 4 mins) add in chili powder, cumin, paprika, and garlic salt and mix well. Add in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil, then simmer until quinoa is cooked. It's that easy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband had a sweet tooth tonight, so I decided to make some quick and easy gluten free peanut butter cookies. I tried out this recipe from Delicious As It Looks. I didn't have any kisses, so I just used chocolate chips. They turned out really good and pretty dense. Tip: they get crispier on the edges as they cool. Wait to eat them if you can!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peanut butter, sugar, egg, and chocolate chips. Roll into little balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Hearty Granola

I just spent my afternoon running 8 miles (half marathon is in only 5 more weeks!), and now I'm in the mood to make some healthy food! About to start some quinoa chili while my granola is in the oven. Will post that recipe next, but here is a FODMAP free twist on my favorite granola recipe, which can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped raw pecans
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 4 tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease baking sheet. In a large bowl mix together peanut butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla. Once well combined add in all dry ingredients and coat well. Spread across baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Toss granola and bake for another 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Granola will continue to harden as it cools.

Blueberry Almond Meal Muffins

Well, it's Saturday night and I'm at home with 4 dogs, making muffins, and watching a tv show about cute animals eating. Seriously, it's just cute animals eating. Is this what happens when you get old?

So back to muffins. My dietician gave me a list of foods to add to my diet and almond meal was one of them. I found this great recipe on damyhealth.com and decided to give it a shot. I'm almost Paleo now- my meals are always supposed to consist of a protein and healthy fat, and I can basically eat as much fat as I want as long as it's mostly from things like oils, nuts, seeds, and avocado. Apparently fat actually helps you lose weight! A quick explanation of the types of fats can be found here. This is a really healthy muffin option too because there are no grains in the recipe at all, just almond meal aka almond flour, which is just ground up almonds (helloooo protein!). It even tastes just like a muffin made with grain and has a fluffy consistency too. This muffin will definitely be a regular in my kitchen. I've already eaten 2...

 

Recipe copied from damyhealth, thank you Amy for creating this delicious recipe!
Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Almond Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Egg Whites
• 1/4 Cup Agave (Honey, Maple Syrup or Stevia)
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• Dash of Salt
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil (or Other Healthy Oil)
• 1 Cup Blueberries

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Place all ingredients excluding blueberries into your food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Once completely mixed fold in blueberries.
4. Spray muffin tin or mini muffin tin with a healthy, non-stick cooking spray.
5. Evenly scoop batter into muffin tin.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.
8. Enjoy!

 

Recipe is FODMAP friendly too if you use maple syrup or stevia as a sweetener!

Detoxing and Donuts

Yes I know, these two things are completely contradictory. But how could I resist these babies?! Donuts may be one of my favorite things in the world.

 

Don't tell my dietician. I'm not supposed to be eating gluten or anything that will promote yeast. Double oops.



Low FODMAP Meatball Marinara

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tsp garlic salt (substitute regular salt and pepper if garlic is not well tolerated)
• 1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers
• Feel free to add 1/4 cup breadcrumbs. I kept burning my bread. :(

First, turn on some Frank Sinatra. Then start heating your favorite marinara on the stove top and boil water for the pasta. Mix together all meatball ingredients in a large bowl and form into golf ball size balls. Add pasta to boiling water and cook till tender. I used Ancient Harvest's quinoa/corn elbows. Nom. While pasta is cooking, heat meatballs on stove top with a little olive oil until cooked all the way through, flipping half way. Once finished top pasta with meatballs and marinara and enjoy!

Fresh Feast

I had a delicious and healthy dinner last night- shrimp sauteed in coconut oil with fresh cucumber and pineapple... and a little chips and salsa on the side. Sometimes the simplest things are the best things.

Food Sensitivity and A Brand New Diet

Wow- the past couple days have been informative, satisfying, and frustrating all rolled into one. 2 weeks ago I had my blood drawn for the ALCAT test. The ALCAT is a pretty special test because it doesn't test for food allergies, it identifies food sensitivities. Up to 200 of them to be exact, plus chemicals, molds, food additives and herbs. It's almost too good to be true. I was tested for 150 foods and 20 food additives. Still pretty comprehensive yet more affordable than the more extensive tests. Did I mention it's usually not covered under insurance and costs a pretty penny? I've been looking forward to having this test done for months and was so excited to finally get the results. It turns out... I'm "severely intolerant" to chicken. CHICKEN. I didn't even know that was possible! It also confirmed my suspicion that I was gluten intolerant, and listed about 20 other foods I should eat sparingly. Most of which are included in my regular daily diet. Great.
Although receiving this information was a huge leap forward in my journey to feeling better, it caused even more frustration for me. Let's tally it up- Fructose Malabsorption, Gluten Intolerance, Lactose Intolerance, and chicken sensitivity. Luckily the ALCAT provides a long list of acceptable foods to eat, but sadly for me a lot of them are high in FODMAPs. Crap. My solution? I'm seeing a Dietician next week and leaving it up to her to tell me what to eat. My brain is fried from thinking so much about this. Second solution? WINE. :)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

So I tried out this recipe from SparkPeople for low fat zucchini brownies and it turned out more like a bread. Still delicious, and I can't wait to have some lathered in cashew butter for breakfast tomorrow morning! I also modified some of the ingredients to make it even healthier. Today at Whole Foods I discovered the most wonderful thing ever invented- ground chia and flax seed with coconut and cocoa. I tested it out in some vanilla yogurt and I couldn't believe how good it was- not too powdery or gritty, just sweet enough, very chocolatey. I felt like I was eating dessert and can't wait to try it mixed with frozen banana "ice cream".

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup applesauce
•  2 small or medium bananas mashed 
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder 
• 1/4 cup Decadent Blend
• 1-1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 2 cups finely shredded zucchini (I used 4 small zucchinis) 
• 2 cups all purpose gluten free flour 
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 9x13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, mashed bananas and sugar. Add vanilla, cocoa, and ground flax/chia seed and mix together. Then add baking soda, salt, and zucchini and mix together. Add flour and walnuts and mix together. Spread evenly into a prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes until brownies spring back when gently touched.

Tea Fortune

I love Yogi Tea. On every tea bag there's a little quote, kind of like a fortune cookie but with positive words for the soul. Today's was something I really needed to hear. How did you know Yogi?

Gluten Free Cupcake Thursday?

.... I am so busted.

Today I had not one but TWO Funfetti cupcakes. These things are my kryptonite. With fake vanilla FODMAP nightmare icing too. When I let myself cheat a little, I tend to let it snowball. I'm feeling the wrath of those tasty little devils and need to tap into the willpower I know is in me somewhere. The diet that I've found works best with my tummy is gluten and dairy free with a green smoothie every morning. I'm gonna try my hardest to get back to eating that way and begin feeling healthy and energetic again.

Chicken Fried Rice

Holy fried rice Batman! This recipe is crazy good. I'm usually intimidated by Asian dishes, but I found this recipe on Delicious As It Looks and it was not only easy but had a small number of ingredients that I actually had in my kitchen! I added a little broccoli and chicken cooked in coconut oil.

If you're looking for more great low fructose recipes, check out this blog.

Gluten Free Cupcake Thursday

Today's flavor was lemon, one of my favorites. Nom nom nom!

Oat Cookies

I think my favorite thing to cook with is oats. I'm obsessed with them. You can make pretty much anything with them. These cookies are made without flour, FODMAP free, and really really good.

Recipe adapted from carrotsncake.com
Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well until blended evenly. Portion batter on a greased baking sheet, approximately 1-2 inches apart. Bake cookies for approximately 12-15 minutes.

FODMAP Free Lunch

Quinoa Tuna Salad

I've been eating this for lunch lately. It's really good and also a great post-workout meal. I just add all the ingredients together without measuring, so I'll just list the ingredients.

• quinoa pasta, cooked
• tuna
• lemon juice
• low fat mayonnaise
• salt
• pepper
• shredded parmesan
• grapes
• cucumber

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

This morning I made some seriously delicious oatmeal. It was really fast and easy too. I know apples are a BIG no-no, but cooking them seems to aid in digestion (and I haven't had an apple in over 2 months and was really craving one). Has anyone else found that cooked fruits and veggies are easier to digest? This makes sense to me for IBS but not Fructose Malabsorption. I'll have to do some more research on this.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 apple sliced into small chunks (remove peel for even easier digestion)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp butter of choice
• 1/2 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cook apple in skillet with butter, cinnamon, and sugar until almost soft. Add in raisins and simmer with apple mixture until apples are soft all the way through. Combine oats, maple syrup, and almond milk in a small pot and cook on medium, stirring frequently, until desired consistency is reached. Top oatmeal with apple mixture and enjoy!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

I took another stab at gluten free baking today. They tasted good, but once again had a funky consistency. Very crunchy after they cooled. I won't take all the blame though. Trying to bake at altitude is hard enough. At least they are better than my muffin disaster last weekend.
I also got to play around with my Lensbaby!

Recipe adapted from vanessam.hubpages.com
Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour (I used 1 cup gluten free all purpose and 1cup oat, don't ask me why)
• 1 tbsp minced orange peel
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet. In a medium bowl, combine flour, orange peel, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl cream together sugar and butter. Add vanilla and orange juice and blend well. Combine wet and dry mixtures, and mix to combine. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop dough onto your prepared sheet, and bake for 15–20 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

Orange Carrot Oat Muffins

This was my first attempt at baking with gluten free flour. I chose oat flour because it was safe- I'm familiar with the taste and bake with oats often. All purpose flour would have been a better choice but it has chickpea flour in it and chickpeas hate me. They turned out VERY DENSE (is it possible for something to be moist and dry at the same time?), but tasted great.

Recipe adapted from Yummly
Ingredients:

• 1/2cup olive oil
• 1/2cup vanilla coconut milk
• 2tbsp fresh orange juice
• 3tbsp sugar
• 1 large carrot shredded
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground ginger 
• 2tbsp maple syrup 
• 1cup rolled oats
• 1-1/4cup oat flour
• 1tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine oil, sugar, coconut milk, orange juice, and shredded carrot together. Add cinnamon, ginger and golden syrup. Fold in oat flour, baking powder and oats. Spoon batter into muffin pan. Bake for 20-25min. 

Gluten Free Cupcake Thursday

Today's flavor was chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

It was delicious.

Overnight Oats

This morning I woke up and went to my favorite Vinyasa class and came home to a DELICIOUS bowl of overnight oats. What a perfect way to start the day.

Recipe adapted from Skinny Taste
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 banana
• seed and nut trail mix
• maple syrup

Place oats, almond milk, chia seeds, vanilla, and cinnamon in a mason jar with lid. Shake to combine and refrigerate overnight. In the morning remove jar from fridge and go to yoga while it thaws! Put mixture in a bowl and top with sliced bananas, trail mix, and drizzle with maple syrup (add a little more almond milk if you'd like).

Weekly Meal Planning

One thing that I think is really important when you have GI issues is meal preparation. If you're always prepared with something to eat that's good for your tummy, you're less likely to just eat whatever is lying around. Sunday is the perfect day to go grocery shopping and plan out meals and snacks to set yourself up for a successful week of feeling great. These are the meals and snacks that I've planned for the week. I've been trying to eat more veggies.

Snacks

• Mozzarella sticks wrapped in turkey
• Lactose free yogurt cups
• Carrots and peanut butter (Sounds weird but tastes surprisingly good)
• Hard boiled eggs and chocolate almond milk (Also sounds a little weird but it has a ton of protein and curbs my sweet tooth. If you need something sweet it's best to pair it with protein so your blood sugar won't spike.) 
• Macrobars- I just saw these for the first time at Whole Foods and got to try a sample. Ok like 5 samples. They are the first protein bar I've found that is completely FODMAP free!
• and of course Bobo's Oat bars. These can be trouble though since they're a little over 300 calories per bar. Usually I'll eat half mid-morning and the other half in the afternoon.

Meals

• Baked chicken and sweet potato
• Salad- mixed greens, cucumber, shredded carrot, grape tomatoes, red pepper, hard boiled eggs, and balsamic dressing.
• Tuna salad on a bed of fresh greens- I like to make tuna salad with a little light mayo, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Cholulaha and will sometimes add cucumber and grapes.
• Stir fry- I always keep jasmine rice, chicken, zucchini, scallions, peanuts, and red peppers on hand so my husband can make stir fry :) 

After looking at this list I realize how much I like to snack.

Favorite Food Friday

My favorite treat lately has been iced coffe with LOTS of ice and french vanilla coconut creamer. I'm not a huge coconut fan so I was reluctant to try this (I really don't care for coconut yogurt) but I'm so glad that I did. It's really creamy, sweet enough that you don't have to use a whole lot, and it doesn't have much of a coconut flavor. Yum!

Note to self...

... you can not eat food like a normal person so stop trying.

I haven't posted in a while because I've had a lot of tummy troubles and didn't want to sound like a Debbie Downer. But if this is a journal of sorts, and I want to reach others going through the same thing, then I've gotta share the bad too...

This sucks. I look like I'm pregnant and have stomach pains that feel like an alien is trying to escape my GI tract. I'm doing a lot better with eating low FODMAP meals and my symptoms have improved, but that's when I trick myself. "I feel great! Why not have that donut or that soy latte. I'm just like a normal person!" Then I load up on bad foods and the cycle starts all over again. Today I decided Indian food was a good idea. Followed by a chocolate chip cookie. So this is my reminder to stop it. Feeling healthy is better than cookies, Jessica.

Favorite Food Friday

This week's favorite food is... Green Valley's Lactose Free Vanilla Yogurt!

Silk soy yogurt used to be a staple in my diet. When I found out that I shouldn't be eating it and would need to switch over to real yogurt, I was actually disappointed. I've never preferred the taste of regular milk or yogurt and was reluctant to try this yogurt. I have to admit, it did take a couple days to get used to the consistency, but now I LOVE IT. Great lightly sweet flavor, very creamy and rich, and it's really filling too. I would eat twice as much soy yogurt to feel as full. Lately what I've been doing is having it with homemade maple cinnamon granola and a seed and nut trail mix.

My favorite day of the week...

...gluten free cupcake Thursday! Every Thursday the local cupcakery has gluten free cupcakes. I'm there every week. That's not too often right?

Clif Products

I am really enjoying IBS: Free at Last. It's very informative and is helping me feel less frustrated with this diet.  I've learned some new things about additives in foods and thought I should update my previous post on energy supplements for endurance sports. Sharkies are now out. They contain fruit juice concentrate which is a no-no. Clif Shot-Bloks and Clif Electrolyte Drink are in! and they are yummy too. Clif Bars and Energy Gels are unfortunately out but Bobo's Oat Bars are a good substitution.
And I'm still mourning the loss of Honey Stingers and Waffles.

IBS: Free at Last- second edition

Just got this book in the mail from Amazon. It's a great resource for anyone wanting to know more about the FODMAP diet. I'm only on page 12 and LOVE it already. Looking forward to the QA at the end and tips on coping with my crazy tummy.

More info from the author here.

Maple Cinnamon Granola

Granola is a great FODMAP friendly snack to have on hand, and it's super easy and fast to make. I really enjoy this recipe with Green Valley's lactose free vanilla yogurt.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheet. Stir together crunchy peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Next add in oats and raisins, and stir until mixed and oats are moist. Spread across greased baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, toss oats (to prevent burning on one side), and bake for 6 more minutes or until granola is slightly browned. Granola will continue to harden as it cools.

Green/Orange Smoothie

I just discovered how awesome RW Knudsen's Orange Carrot juice is and I want to drink it all day long. That probably wouldn't be a good idea so I decided to make a green smoothie with it instead. This is delicious and very sweet.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz almond milk
• 4 oz orange carrot juice
• 2 tbsp vanilla hemp protein powder
• handful of spinach
• a few frozen cucumber slices
• 1 frozen banana

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

Favorite Food Friday

I was really worried that being on this new diet (I hate the word diet, more like nutritional plan) would make me feel limited with my food choices, but it has actually opened my mind up to new things. There are a ton of new-to-me products I've fallen in love with, so I decided to start "Favorite Food Friday" to feature one every week. My husband wanted to call this post "Fantastically Flavorful FODMAP Free Food Friday", but I thought that was a little much. ;)
So the first most delicious food ever is... QUINOA PASTA!

Who would have thought? I used to hate quinoa. This pasta is blended with corn and you can't really tell it's not wheat, except that it has a delicious buttery flavor and texture. Which is better, so I will not miss traditional past at all! I've been making it with spinach and feta chicken sausage and 365 organic pasta sauce. They have one flavor of sauce that doesn't contain onions, just garlic. That seems to sit ok. I'd also love to try this mac n cheese recipe (minus the garlic and plus gluten free breadcrumbs).

Baked Oatmeal Snacks

I'm a big fan of snacking. And when you have dietary restrictions and work out a lot, it's a good idea to have healthy, tummy friendly snacks on hand to avoid eating naughty things when you're ravenous. Here are two of my favorite snacks made with oats.

CHEWY GRANOLA BAR BITES from Shape.com

Ingredients Makes 6 bites

• 1 cup old fashion oats
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon will also work)
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line muffin tin with paper cups. Combine oats, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, chia seeds, baking powder, and salt. Stir in milk and egg white into oat mixture. Divide batter among six muffin cups. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until batter is fully set.

*This was my first time using silicon liners. They're amazing, I highly recommend trying them!


PUMPKIN PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL BARS from loveveggiesandyoga.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• (I added 1/2 cup chocolate chips and cut the sugar in half)

Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir by hand.  Spread batter (it will be pretty moist) into a foil-lined and spayed 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan.  Bake at 350F for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  The bars may still look underdone, but that’s ok because they will continue to set up as they cool.  Allow to cool very well before slicing.

*I had some leftover pumpkin puree from my Frosted Pumpkin Bars so I decided to make another type of pumpkin bar today. I also put a spoonful in a bowl of vanilla yogurt with nuts, seeds, and cinnamon and it tasted just like pumpkin whipped cream! I don't think I will ever get enough pumpkin.

Success

For the first time I went to a party and did not eat foods I knew were bad for my tummy. That is such a huge step for me. I passed up the artichoke dip, bread, crackers, and cream cheese dip, and I even put down my ginger ale when I realized it had high fructose corn syrup in it. Instead I munched on tortilla chips with guacamole and tomatoes, deviled eggs, and had a small glass of prosecco. And I wasn't even tempted this time to eat any of those bad foods. It's amazing how if you never give up and keep telling yourself you're worth it, you can overcome frustration and defeat and replace it with self love and success. What a great way to start the new year!

*Avocados have FODMAPS but I can tolerate about a half an avocado at a time.