Choc Chip Cookie Bars (vegan + GF) + 5K

cookie 1

YEEEESSSSSS this happened and they are SO GOOD!!! These are probably one of the best things I’ve ever made. The texture is perfect. Thick like a brownie, good texture, soft but dense, gooey and most important: chocolaty!!

As I was eating one of these bars for breakfast (yes, really) I thought to myself: Does anyone really like oatmeal raisin cookies? If you do please comment and let me know! I know there was a time in the early 90’s when I pretended to like oatmeal raisin because we were told it was the healthier option but now that we don’t live under such false pretenses I don’t know anyone that chooses oatmeal raisin over chocolate chip.

Anyway, before I get to the recipe, I ran another trail 5K last weekend! Here I am at the finish with my “trainer”.

me

This time my hubby was in town so he and Rocco came to support me which was exciting 🙂 Rocco didn’t run the race even though it was a dog friendly race. He’s fast but he gets distracted by people and dogs, plus I didn’t want him to get trampled!

Like the last race, this one was a lot of fun. It was a much bigger event so there were a lot of people. The course wasn’t as steep which meant I couldn’t go super fast on the downhill. Actually I swear there wasn’t any downhill on this course. It felt like it was uphill the entire way! I finished 9th in my age group out of 50 some ladies. I feel pretty good about that because I have never trained for speed. I’ve always trained for the Long Slow Distance and I didn’t grow up running and was certainly never on any Cross Country or Track team. I’m hoping to do at least one more this summer but we’ll see!

cookie 2
Yum Yum Yum

Alright, this recipe. I want to believe it’s healthy because there isn’t any flour in it AND there is an entire can of beans in there (I swear you can’t taste them). But there’s also 1.5 cups of chocolate chips so they kind of cancel each other out 😉 You can totally eat this stuff raw too! If you don’t plan on baking it just leave out the baking soda and baking powder and then you can roll it into balls and freeze or refrigerate it. I haven’t tried using the dough to make regular cookies but I’m pretty confident you could if you wanted to.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (vegan + gluten free)

Ingredients

  • 1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
  • 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (omit if just making “dough”)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder (omit if just making “dough”)
  • 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips (I use enjoy life brand)

Place all ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor. Process until smooth scraping the sides down as necessary. There should be no chunks for the garbanzo beans left and the dough should be very smooth and sticky.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips.

If baking, line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Scrape the mixture into the baking pan and smooth it out. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from pan.

That’s it for now! 2 posts in 2 weeks is pretty good for me! I’ll be back soon with a DIY laundry detergent recipe I’m super excited about!

❤ Laura

 

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Cooling Cucumber Soup + My 1st 5K (video)

Hi hi hi!

I’m back today with a recipe for a cooling summer soup. Raw vegetable soup is basically just a vegetable smoothie but calling it a soup sounds way better!

blender
Tonnnns of veggies!!

Blending vegetables is a great way to make them more digestible. This is good news for anyone who gets digestive upset from eating raw vegetables or salads. Plus it sneaks a ton of variety into the diet without having to try too hard! And as another bonus, since this is basically just raw vegetables going into a blender it only takes a couple minutes to make a big batch.

Swapping out your afternoon snack for this soup is a GREAT way to get rid of bloating, flatten the belly and get your smokin’ hot bod ready for summer! Seriously, give it a try. If you usually have a protein shake, protein bar, cookies, chips, pretzels, etc in the afternoon, try swapping those out for this soup next week and see what happens!

soup
My soup ready to go for the week!

And on a totally unrelated note, I ran my FIRST EVER 5K last weekend! It was also my first ever trail race! I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve never participated in a 5K. I started running on my 30th birthday unable to run a mile without stopping many, many times. As I progressed to being able to run 1 mile, then 3, then 6 without stopping my first first ever foot race was a Half Marathon and then a Full Marathon. So I guess I never felt like it was worth getting up early and paying money “just” to run 3 miles. Except then the 5K started to scare me for some reason. When you think about it, a marathon is hard for sure but the #1 goal (for me anyway) was to finish/not die. I didn’t really care what my time was. Just finishing is accomplishment enough. But people who run 5K’s generally try to go FAST. I am not fast (at least that is the story I tell myself over and over).

So, I signed up for a 5K trail race. My husband was out of town so I was all on my own. No hand holding here, I had to be a big girl. I got up at 4:30am, too sleepy to eat breakfast. I stopped drinking coffee a while back so I didn’t even have that comfort. I drove myself up the canyon and I couldn’t believe how nervous I was!

To make a really long story short I LOVED IT! It was a really great experience and the funniest thing is that I ended up getting 2nd place. I started off in the very back because I assumed I would be the slowest one and I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way. I also forgot to double knot my shoes so I had to stop to tie my shoes and I had to pass all but one person. I think the person who beat me finished about 45 seconds to a minute before me. Shoot. Next time I’ll double knot my shoes and try a smidge harder!

Oh and the “next time” is this weekend!

Here is a little video I took right after finishing. I didn’t have anyone to talk to so I talked to my phone #imsoawkward

Alright, here is that recipe!

Cooling Cucumber Soup (servings: 4)

  • 1 apple
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1/2 bulb fennel, feather part and all
  • 4 stalks celery
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 cups of filtered water

Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy warm or cold.

Alright, that’s all for now! I’ll be back soon with an update from my next race!

❤ Laura