Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins (grain free!)

Hello, earthlings.

Just wanted to pop in right quick and leave you with a SWEET recipe I tested out last night…and LOVED.

Almond Flour Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins (grain free!)

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Here’s what you need:

  • 2 c almond flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 c unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1/4 c agave
  • 1 T vanilla
  • 1 t vinegar
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 c raspberries
  • 2/3 c chocolate chips

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Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with liners (don’t just use non-stick spray on the pan…these suckers WILL stick.
  2. Mix all the ingredients except the raspberries and chocolate chips together in a bowl until well combined. Then gently fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips.
  3. Throw in the oven for 20 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.

*Note: These muffins will appear to be undone…let them sit in the pan for 20 minutes after you take them out of the oven and allow them time on the counter to ‘set.’ I left mine out overnight and they were PERFECT the next morning. Also keep in mind that because these have different ingredients than your average run-of-the-mill muffin, the consistency will be different…but in a good way!

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OMG yum. 

I’m HERE! With a WORKOUT!

Well crap. I have just been sucking with my blog game lately. 

Let jump right to it.

Or perhaps I should detour right quick and thank everyone for their comments on my last post. Blacking out while drunk is embarrassing enough, but blacking out stone cold sober in the morning on a crowded train is just the pits. I have been super mindful of drinking tons of water in the AM to avoid future recurrences. (PS: my train this morning was stalled by 10 minutes due to a medical emergency on the train ahead. Apparently blacking out is the cool thing to do on the C train?)

I also want to apologize to any other bloggers out there who may, on occasion, get comments from me and who are not seeing any as of late. Yeah, I have also been slacking in that department. Don’t worry, I’m still reading your blog. And obviously liking it. Just know that I am either avoiding motion sickness on the morning train or sitting on my hands to avoid peeing my pants on the bus ride home and thus cannot use my thumbs to type a quirky response to your latest and greatest published goods.

And to my readers, thanks for sticking around. Because…you’re awesome.

I have some posts lined up (and by ‘lined up’ I mean I haven’t typed them yet, but they’re just ideas in my head) about latest meals, a couple of recipes, and some beauty/fashion favorites. I’m thinking of calling them my beaution or feuty finds <——play on words, ya catch that?

For this post, given that I am typing this at 10pm and I still have to shower and give some sort of attention to my dogs and husband, I just wanted to share with you the workout that I did tonight.

HOLD THE PHONE. WAIT.

I forgot that I needed to tell you about the FAB find that TYLER OF ALL PEOPLE discovered tonight. MOM…THIS IS YOUR CUE TO STOP READING THIS POST. I PROMISE YOU CAN READ IT IN 7-10 BUSINESS DAYS.

So this ‘find’ if you will…..apparently lowes.ca has some sort of pricing typo and listed their Margaritaville machine on sale from $98 to $78 dollars. I’m thinking there was supposed to be a ‘1’ in front of those prices, but anyyyywaysss… Tyler found that if I went to Best Buy (where they honor competitor’s sale prices and award an ADDITIONAL 10% off) I could score that sucker for under $70! So, I Speedy Gonzalez’d it over to the Best Buy and WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM I got my Mom her *belated* birthday gift FOR THE GREATEST STEAL OF ALL TIMES.

Back to that workout.

*phew, I just got sweaty over how excited I was getting from typing that amazing gem of a story*

So this workout consists of three sets of exercises. Ok, technically 6 sets since I separated them from ‘left’ and ‘right’. For each set, I would complete 16 reps of each move, then 12 reps of each, then 8 reps of each. Once I was completed with those 3 sets, I would move to the next three sets- which were essentially the same moves, just on the other ‘side’ (so this would be the moves from column one in the pic below) Then I move to the next column and do the same, 16 of both, 12 of both, 8 of both, then onto the bottom set: 16, 12, 8. Last column was 20, 15, and 10 of each move.

Comprende?

(Let me know if I am apparently typing this too late in the night and not making sense at all as to how to complete this workout. If you do, I will promptly swig a mug of coffee and reply with a hopefully better explanation.)

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If you don’t know any of the above moves, check out these links:

 

After I did this, I completed 20 minutes of HIIT and rolling hills on the bike.

And when I got in my car to go home, I couldn’t even lift my leg to the gas pedal because of squishy-post-workout leg syndrome. I really can’t wait to see if I can manage a pair of heels to work tomorrow.

And as Merritt Wever so perfectly said it at the Emmy’s last night…Umm..I gotta go, bye.

I was THAT person

So, funny story.
And by funny, I mean only in retrospect. Totally not funny at the time.

This morning, Tyler gave me the heads up that there was an accident on the cTrain. Since I take both the bus and the train to work, there really wasn’t any other way to commute so I just had to endure the congestion since the train was only running on a certain portion of the line.

I take the bus no problem to the train station where I can already see the clusterf*ck of people waiting for trains to arrive. Then proceed to pack in like sardines. I got into a train, and pulled out my phone to keep myself busy with my latest book. I was definitely one of those sardines and had 2 mm of personal space- standing of course. The guy comes over the intercom and said the trains were really running slow and it would take approximately 45 minutes to reach downtown. Groan.

I continue reading my book and we slowly crawl towards downtown calgary. At one particular stop, the doors opened and so many people crammed into the already crammed train that my 2mm of space was compacted to about .5mm. The doors closed and we stood still for what felt like forever. All of a sudden, I started to get REALLY hot. I tried to ignore it since I knew the ride would be a lot longer, but pretty soon I couldn’t ignore the discomfort and I attempted to undo my coat buttons.

Then, the hot flash turned into a hot flash with a barfy feeling. I tried leaning over to gain some relief- no help. I turn towards the door and a woman behind me asks if I need to sit down and I remember responding to her that I needed to get off the train. Cut to a few minutes later, I came to and I was being escorted by a fellow male commuter to a nearby bench.

I completely blacked out.

That has NEVER happened to me before. I don’t know what happened (I’m guessing combination of too much coffee + standing backwards in a HOT crowded train + reading in a moving vehicle) but the man who helped me out said that he was a diabetic and had to be assisted on many occasions and only felt right doing the same for me. I didn’t even realize what stop we were at or the fact that he even said I wasn’t acting myself- which is weird since I don’t know the guy. But when I came to, I was profusely sweating. And shaking because when I realized what happened I had totally freaked out.

He wanted to stay with me until he was sure I was ok- and after a few minutes of fresh air, I assured him I was (minus the freaked-out feeling of course). I was profusely thanking him for assisting me.

Then, I realized how screwed I was because the trains were so packed and there was NO way I’d get on another one anytime soon to continue my commute to work. About 7 or so trains later, I finally managed to squeeze on another and get to work only about an hour late.

Moral of the story-
1) don’t drink too much coffee too fast
2) don’t try to read while standing backwards on a train
3) pack a personal fan or coldpak
4) kind strangers DO exist

I won!

Jo from Living Mint Green nominated me for an award! 

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An Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence I ain’t, but I’ll take it!

Here are the deets:

  1. Include award logo in the post on your blog
  2. Link to the person who nominated you.
  3. Answer 10 questions about yourself.
  4. Nominate 10 bloggers to receive the award.

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Sorry in advance if it appears I am half assing this. I’m trying to watch SOA at the same time and apparently it’s taking a bit of priority. Um YEAH Charlie Hunnam. So now, I shall answer the 10 questions Jo posted. 

1. What are the ingredients for a perfect day?

  • workout
  • booze
  • sunshine
  • friends/family
  • laughter
  • yummy food
  • music
  • naps

2. If you could travel anywhere tomorrow, where would you go? Why? 

Hawaii. Or San Francisco. Or Europe. Places where there is good food, good drink, and maybe require some walking from place to place (so I can call it a workout)

3. What is your favorite brunch food?

Pancakes. Or any type of muffin or scone that my mom bakes.

4. What was the last bad movie you watched?

The Lords of Salem. It was some horror movie with Rob Zombie’s daughter that Tyler downloaded. We didn’t even finish it because it was SO bad.

5. What’s your simplest pleasure?

Voluntary lovins from the puppies

6. What was your favorite childhood meal?

Chicken and Dumplings. (minus the chicken) So basically dumplings. But it sounds better saying the whole thing

7. East Coast or West Coast?

WEST COAST BECAUSE THERE IS NO SNOW

8. What are you a geek about?

Making sure I am early for everything. Or know how to get to somewhere I’ve never been.

9. What’s something you regret, or wish you would’ve done differently?

Without potentially disappointing my parents for this answer, I’d have to say college. I LOVED my freshman year, but the other three years were just terrible. I didn’t enjoy volleyball (new head coach was TERRIBLE), didn’t care for my classes, and just had a depressing social experience. Probably my fault for choosing to go to a school with a population less than 2,000 students. I don’t REGRET it, I just wish I had gone through the experience differently.

10. Name your top 3 TV shows:

Right now: Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Amazing Race

Of all time: Friends, Golden Girls, AFV

******

And now, I will present you, my fine readers, to answer any OR ALL of the following questions (get creative be funny, be serious, be you!)

  1. What’s your first childhood memory? Telling my dad I was three and was about to get glasses.
  2. Do you announce to your significant other when you fart? YUP
  3. Least favorite household chore? Making the bed or ironing. Tough call.
  4. Weirdest date you’ve been on? Any of the MANY match.com dates I went on when I lived in Boston. Interesting is an understatement.
  5. Have any recurring dreams? That I’m pregnant, or lose a tooth, or running from zombies.
  6. What would you do to make the news? Something wacky like twerking in an inappropriate public place. Or having eaten the most chocolate chip cookies in an hour.
  7. Weirdest peeve? For some reason, I’m ALWAYS bothered by how dirty the kitchen is when I come home from a workout. Or rather, I seem to get bothered by the entire house being dirty when I come home from workouts. Must be the endorphins?

Latests

Random post of just some of my latests.

Latest eats (all had at some point over the last week or so):

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Left to right, top to bottom:

  • chopped southwest salad
  • portobello pizzas
  • chicken quesadillas
  • nachos
  • random plate from buffet at wedding we went to last weekend
  • turkey club

Latest workout:

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I had a busy day on Saturday, so I needed to wake up early to squeeze in SOME kind of workout. Also, boo to my crappy gym for not opening until 8am on a Saturday..the ONE time I actually wanted to get to the gym early on a weekend. Anyways, I did three rounds of the above workout, with 10 reps of each exercise (10 on BOTH sides when necessary).

Needless to say, after getting through this workout, spending the rest of the day shopping, and the rest of the night dancing/in heels, my legs were DEFINITELY feeling it on Sunday. And maybe still feeling it now.

Latest music:

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I had cardio on the agenda yesterday for my workout so I quickly downloaded a few of the latest songs to help power me through. Love them all, although Applause really helped when I was spinning and Royals just made me feel pretty badass.

Latest love:

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Haha just kidding. I’ve loved this guys for a couple of years now.

What are some of your latests?