Perfect Whole Wheat Oat Pizza Crust

1 1/2 cups of oats

1 cup of whole wheat flour( I use white whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp. of flax seeds

1 packet of yeast

2 tablespoons of agave or honey

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 cup of warm water

a little extra flour to knead the dough

In a large bowl sprinkle the pack of yeast over 1 cup of warm water. Drizzle the agave or honey on top of the water and yeast and let the mixture set until the yeast becomes foamy on the top of the water. (Approx 10 minutes). Add the oil. Grind the oats and flax seeds into flour in the magic bullet or blender. Add the ground oats, flax and whole wheat flour in the bowl. Mix all ingredients and then let the dough rise for 10 minutes before placing some additional flour on a clean counter or work surface and lightly kneading the dough for approx 30sec-1 min. Grease pizza pan and spread the dough to the thickness that you want your crust. I normally split the dough in half and spread it thin enough to make 2 pizzas on 12 inch pizza pans. Top with pizza sauce, your choice of toppings and cheese and bake for 13-15min at 425 degrees.
The dough can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. To use the dough you just need to take it from the fridge and let it rise in a warm place for a 1/2 hr before using. I shred enough cheese for 2 pizzas when I make the dough and then I store the second half of the dough in the fridge and I have dough and the cheese all ready to use when I want an easy quick meal for the kids.
My husband is very picky and normally will not eat any of my healthy recipes besides my bread and he loves this pizza crust as does everyone that I've made it for.

Pumpkin Spice Protein Muffins

1 cup of oat flour(blend oats in bullet or blender until the consistency of flour)

3 scoops of vanilla or white chocolate protein powder

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp of salt

1 tsp of baking soda

3/4 cup of liquid egg whites

1 egg

1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup of stevia(I use truvia)

1 cup of canned pumpkin

1 tsp of vanilla (optional)

Pre heat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together in separate bowl. Combine all ingredients and mix well together. Spray muffin tray with non-stick spray. Pour mixture into muffin tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12.

Each muffin is approx. 80 calories with 7 grams of protein and lots of slow digesting carbs from the oats and the pumpkin! They are my favourite on the go meal! I usually eat 3 or 4 for a mini meal.

Banana French Toast

1/2 ripe banana

1 egg

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of unsweetened almond milk

1 tablespoon of flax seeds (optional)

Put all of the ingredients in the magic bullet or blender until mixture is smooth with no banana chunks left. Dip pieces of bread ( I use my whole wheat oatmeal brown bread) into the mixture coating both sides and fry the bread as you would regular french toast. I prefer to use coconut oil but you can use butter or non stick spray. Flip to fry both sides.

My son loves dipping his in peanut butter but it tastes great plain which is how I serve it to my daughter since she is younger and tends to make a huge mess if I give her the peanut butter. I make extra and I keep it in the fridge. I think it tastes even better cold and it's such a great snack for the kids and so easy to just cut up in little bite sized pieces!

My Journey To Health and Happiness

I grew up in a small town in Nova Scotia but I guess you could say that despite this, I've always had big dreams. My husband likes to say that I am an optimist in every sense of the word, often proposing ideas or views to him that as a realist sound completely unrealistic. I easily see the good and I often over look the bad, forgetting to take the time to consider the "what ifs". I guess looking back, some of my ideas actually were completely unrealistic but even some of those ideas that at first seemed impossible, turned out to be completely possible. Between being a dreamer and being stubborn, usually once I get an idea in my head and my heart becomes set on that idea, I am unable to stop until I've finished what I set out to do.

My first mission in life was to go to Australia. After seeing a movie when I was 6 yrs old about a child who travelled to Australia by postage stamp, I decided that one day I would go to this magical land. Growing up poor, our farthest family vacation was to a camping ground a couple of hrs away or to my Aunts house but throughout all of my years growing up, I held onto this idea of going to Australia knowing that one day I would get there. Three weeks after my 18th birthday I bought a one way ticket and alone I jumped on a plane for the first time and I was finally on my way to Australia.

The night of February 6th, 2011 was no different than that night as a child when after watching a movie, I decided that I was going to go to Australia, except the movie was pictures and the goal was to have the body of my dreams and become radiantly healthy and happy in every aspect of my life.

Like most girls, my issues with body image and my weight began in my teens..well actually they began before then, when I was in the 6th grade. I wasn't overweight then, I was actually quite skinny, I just had a rather large backside for my body frame and some of the boys in my class gave me the nick name bubble butt. Throughout my teens I struggled with low self esteem, always comparing myself to other girls and deciding that I didn't quite compare. I would go through periods of exercising 2-3 hrs a day and barely eating to periods of overeating and not exercising. I yo-yoed many times throughout my teens and very early 20's between 130lbs and 150lbs never being happy with what I saw in the mirror.

In my early 20's, I felt that I had finally found balance. I managed to keep my weight between 130lbs and 140lbs by eating "healthy" and balancing it with exercises like running, yoga and snowboarding. I even saved up money and went through a surgery to get breast implants as I'd always felt self conscious about my chest, feeling that my smaller breasts were "freakishly" out of proportion to my larger hips. I was happy with my body, I finally accepted it. I didn't like the extra "puffiness" that I carried around my mid section and I wasn't so pleased with the cellulite on my legs or on my butt but I reasoned that these things were due to genetics and things that I was unable to change.

It was at this time that I reconnected with the love of my life who I'd lost touch with during my years of travelling and living overseas. My husband and I first met when I was 15. Looking back now I can honestly say that it was love at first sight. We dated briefly in our teens and then our lives went separate ways.     

We still stayed in touch for a while, even when I went to Australia at 18 but we slowly lost touch. Through the friend that we originally first met through, we got back in touch after not talking for 5 years. After dating long distance for nearly a year with him living in Ontario while I was living in Alberta, we made the move back to Nova Scotia together. Our plan was to move closer to our families and to start setting up our lives for marriage and a family of our own. Things happened much faster than we had planned though as we found out that we were expecting only two weeks after returning to our home province. We bumped up the wedding and we were married in August of 2008 when I was three months pregnant.

Although at the point when I became pregnant I was quite healthy, I became really sick almost as soon as I became pregnant. Basically any healthy foods like vegetables, fruit, or chicken would come back up instantly. Even the smell of eggs or chicken cooking would have me running to the bathroom within seconds to get sick. Greasy, starchy carbohydrates like chips, pizza and french fries seemed to be the only foods that would stay down. They would also help to settle my stomach and take away a bit of the constant nauseous feeling. So, I ate and I ate and the weight piled on. During my pregnancy I went from weighing 130lbs to weighing 208lbs before I refused to look at the scale anymore. I would assume that I put on another 5lbs or more in those last 2 weeks, which would put me at over 80lbs gained in 9 months.  While gaining the weight I also lost more and more of my self esteem with every single pound that I put on. By the end of my pregnancy it seemed that my old zest for life had all but disappeared and I had become a shadow of my former happy, self confident, outgoing self.

I became pregnant with my daughter less than 5 months after my son was born. I wasn't nearly as sick the second time. I gained a lot less weight with this pregnancy, topping out at 185lbs at 38 weeks pregnant when my daughter was born. Needless to say that after 2 back to back pregnancies, a large amount of weight gained and after having 2 c-sections, my body no longer resembled anything close to my pre pregnancy body.

                          

It was Sunday, February 6th, 2011 the night that my life changed forever. It had been 9 months since I'd given birth to my daughter. I was still overweight at 5'3 weighing 145lbs with a very high body fat percentage. I was tired all day every day and I was tired of living my life as a miserable frumpy mother, always wearing sweatpants and embarrassed of my body both in and out of clothes. That night I was searching the Internet for hope that I would one day be happy with my body and my life again. I was searching for before and after pictures of mothers who'd had tummy tucks. I wanted a mental picture of what my belly would one day look like when we could one day afford the surgery. I'd believed at that time that surgery was my only option to have a "normal" belly again.

I found two pictures that night that gave me hope. Both of these pictures will forever be imprinted in my mind but neither of them were of women who've had tummy tucks. They were pictures of mothers who were fitness models. The first picture was a before and after picture of Jennifer Nicole Lee. The second picture was of Kim Dolan Leto. She was wearing a black and white zebra print bikini while holding her young daughter. I remember being completely in awe of how stunning she was with her amazing body and beaming smile on her beautiful face. I could see how happy and healthy she was spiritually, mentally and physically and I wanted that. I wanted self confidence and I wanted to be truly happy in every sense of the word. I wanted to be proud to stand there in a tiny bikini with my young children and I wanted to be radiantly healthy in mind, body and spirit. Seeing that picture of Kim set my goal and seeing that picture of Jennifer made me believe that I could achieve it. I took a before picture that very night and I promised myself that I would never look that way ever again.

On Kim's site she mentions that she sometimes does the program Insanity in her training and she also talked about eating clean and gave a breakdown of her diet and calories. So, that is what I started with and the very next day I started on day 1 of Insanity and I started eating clean. The other two goals that I set at the same time where to enter my first bodybuilding competition and to enter the Status Fitness magazine cover contest in the fall.

I stuck with the Insanity program for the first three weeks before finding myself exhausted and deciding not to continue after 3 days of still doing workouts despite hurting my leg which was only making it worse. I decided that there must be an easier way and I turned to an at home workout in Oxygen magazine.  I purchased two 8lb weights, some resistant bands and between the exercises in the magazine and others that I found online I alternated between upper body and lower body days doing exercises throughout the day while watching the kids like various squats, push ups and tricep dips. I stored my little weights in the kitchen cupboard and I would sneak off for a couple of minutes at a time to do excercises like shoulder presses or bicep curls. It was also at this time that I started focusing and learning more about nutrition. All of my spare time was consumed with reading articles on nutrition, articles on training and also on competing. I had fallen in love with my new lifestyle and then in June, I made the decision to enrol in school to become certified as a Nutritionist.

The weight was coming off and I was becoming stronger and healthier physically, mentally and spiritually by the day. With every little goal that I reached, the sparkle in my eye became a little brighter and almost before I realised that it had happened, the once out going girl who had disappeared returned and was ready once again to take on the world.

It has been just over 10 months since my journey to my new life began. I am now in the absolute best shape of my life. I have reached my goal of becoming truly happy and healthy physically, mentally and spiritually. I also ran for the Status Fitness magazine cover contest in October earning my spot in the finals. Last month I stepped on the stage for the first time weighing 114lbs.
I have set many new goals over these past 10 months and I will be continuing to work hard towards each and every one of them while also setting many more. Yes, I am sure that just like with reaching any goal there will be some obstacles along the way but I will stay focused and I will get through each and every one of them.

"I've felt weak before.

Becoming strong made me a fighter.

I refuse to give up on myself."

-Kim Dolan Leto

High Protein Chocolate Macaroons

2 1/2 cups of oats

8 scoops of chocolate protein powder (vanilla, plain or white chocolate also work)

1/4 cup of cocoa

1/4 cup of stevia

1 cup of fat free greek yogurt

Grind 1 cup of the oats into flour in a magic bullet or blender. In a large bowl combine the oat flour, 1 1/2 cups of oats, 8 scoops of protein powder, 1/4 cup of cocoa and 1/4 cup of stevia and mix well. In a small pot, warm the greek yogurt on medium until the yogurt becomes runny and slightly hot to the touch. Pour the heated greek yogurt onto the dry ingredients and mix well until all of the ingredients are completely mixed throughout. Spray 2 cookie sheets with non stick spray. With a tablespoon, drop a heaping spoonful of the mixture onto the cookie sheets one at a time dividing the recipe into 18 portions. Place trays into the refrigerator to cool for 1 hr before eating. I store the macaroons in a Tupperware container in the fridge with the layers of macaroons separated by sheets of aluminium foil or parchment paper.  

Each macaroon ends up being approx 110 calories with 14 grams of protein, 10 grams of carbohydrates and less than 2 grams of fat.

This is also the recipe that I use to make my homemade protein bars by placing the entire mixture into an 8x8 pan sprayed with non stick spray, placing in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hr before cutting into 9 squares. The protein bars end up being approx 220 calories, 28 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbohydrates and less than 4 grams of fat each. They make a perfect pre or post workout meal.

This recipe makes the macaroons quite chewy. If you want them harder or more dry than you can choose to add another 1/2 cup of oats and also not grind the 1 cup of oats into flour and just use all of the oats whole. I also sometimes grind flax seeds with the oats to add to the mixture or replace 1/2 cup of the greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter, still heating both the greek yogurt and peanut butter together in the same pot before adding the mixture to the dry ingredients.

2 Minute Pumpkin Protein Muffins

1/2 cup of oats

1 cup of liquid egg whites

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

3 tablespoons of stevia

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Put all ingredients into magic bullet or blender. Spray muffin tray with non stick spray. Fill 6 muffin tins 1/2-3/4 full with batter. Bake for approx 22 min. Cool on rack.

 I like eating mine either plain or topping with a dollop of greek yogurt sweetened with stevia!

Each muffin ends up being approx 53 calories, 7g of carbs, 5.5g of protein with less than 1g of fat.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Brown Bread

You will need:

3 cups of oats

4 cups of whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of molasses

1 pack of yeast

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of agave nectar or honey

1/2 tsp of salt

2 cups of boiling hot water

1/2 cup of luke warm water

Place 1 cup of oats in mixing bowl and add 2 cups of freshly boiled water.

Stir and add in 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 tsp of salt. Set mixture aside.

In a separate bowl pour in 1/2 cup of warm water. Sprinkle 1 packet of yeast over the water.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of agave or honey over the top of the yeast.

Leave both mixtures to set for 10-15 mins or until the yeast mixture is foamy

and the oat mixture is luke warm.

While mixtures are setting you can grind the remaining 2 cups of oats in the magic bullet or blender into oat flour and set aside.

Add the oat mixture to the water and yeast mix. Pour in the 1/2 cup of molasses and mix well. Add in the oat flour and stir. Add 3 cups of whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat flour which is a lighter whole wheat flour that is still unbleached but I've also used plain whole wheat flour)

Mix the the flour throughout the dough.

Spread 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour out on a clean work surface. Put the dough onto the surface. Knead for 5 minutes occasionally adding some of the remaining flour as the dough becomes sticky. I usually have about 1/4 cup of flour left at the end but you may need the whole 4 cups depending on the flour used.

Clean the bowl and spray with non stick spray. Put the dough in the bowl and cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hr in a warm place.

Split the dough into 2 and place into 2 bread pans sprayed with non stick spray.

Cover bread pans and let rise for an additional hr.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover bread and place in the oven to cook. Bake for approx 35 mins.

 Place bread on cooling rack as soon as it comes out of the oven and butter

the top to prevent it from being dry.

This bread also makes amazing grilled cheese sandwiches!! My kids love them!

Good for you Chocolate Pudding

1/2 of a ripe avocado

2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter

1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk

1 tablespoons of cocoa

2 tablespoons or 8 packets of stevia

1 scoop of chocolate protein powder

Put all ingredients in magic bullet or blender until mixture is smooth with no avocado chunks remaining! For a lower calorie version you can also leave out the peanut butter. Another good version is Chocolate banana pudding made by omitting the peanut butter and adding 1/3 of a frozen over ripe banana to the mixture before blending. I also sometimes add 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla to the recipe when I want a little extra flavor. You can also add chopped fresh strawberries or raspberries to the pudding for a sweet chocolate berry treat.

Not so Naughty Chocolate Cheesecake

1/2 cup of fat free cream cheese

1 scoop of chocolate protein powder

4 packets of stevia

1/2 tablespoon of milk or milk substitute (I use unsweetened almond milk)

Put cream cheese and protein powder in a bowl and mix well. Add in the stevia and milk and mix throughout. I separated the mixture into 2 mini tupperware containers before placing in the freezer for a half hr but you can choose to use whatever you want for a mold or just chill in the mixing bowl. If you want the cheesecake richer in chocolate than also add 1 teaspoon of cocoa and 4 more packets of stevia. Another version would be using vanilla or white chocolate protein powder and topping the cheesecake with berries other than strawberries like blueberries or raspberries or making a homemade berry compote to top the cheesecake. High in protein and low in calories, you can have your cheesecake this holiday season and eat it to!!

2 servings. Approx 125 calories per serving with 20 grams of protein!

Very Berry Frozen Yogurt

1 cup of plain fat free Greek Yogurt

1 cup of frozen berries of choice

2 tablespoons of stevia or honey

Blend all ingredients in magic bullet. Couldn't be easier!!

Banana Protein Pancakes and Mini Muffins

1/3 cup of oats

2/3 cup of liquid egg whites

1/3 over ripe banana

Put all ingredients in magic bullet or blender. Cook like a regular pancake. Makes 2 for around 200 calories. Can be made in advanced and frozen separately and then cooked in the toaster!

I use this same recipe to make mini protein pancakes in the oven! The portions at the top make 4 mini muffins or you could make 6 using these proportions below or double the recipe for a batch of 12.

1/2 cup of oats

1 cup of liquid egg whites

1/2 over ripe banana

*you can also add a tablespoon of stevia if you want them to be sweeter or fresh or frozen blueberries before cooking is a nice addition as well

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put all ingredients into magic bullet or blender and blend well. Spray muffin tray with non stick spray. Fill the cups 1/2 to 3/4 full.

Bake for 18 mins. Take out of pan and cool on rack before eating.  

I like topping mine with natural peanut butter and a couple of fresh banana slices. :)