This weekend I was stuck at home with yet another gosh dang cold. The tea kettle was whistling every other hour to fill up my mug of Gypsy Cold Care tea, and I accomplished little to nothing on my weekend to-do list.

Sunday, however, I had enough steam to bake four batches of Triple Chocolate Espresso Cookies (after triple-washing my hands, of course).

Cocoa Powder. Chocolate Chips. Espresso Powder. Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans.

The recipe is courtesy of 101 Cookbooks – as was last Sunday’s Sparkling Ginger Chip Cookie recipe – and was another smashing buzzing hit.

They’re great gooey out of the oven, even better snuggled up on the couch with a cold glass of milk, and I imagine they’d be excellent crumbled over ice cream.

Recipe Notes:

1. I chopped the espresso beans and recommend you do the same unless you want to chip a tooth.
2. I also suggest using parchment paper on your baking sheets – no spatula needed.
3. From my experience, cookies with cocoa powder dry out fast; store them in the freezer. There’s nothing wrong with a cold, crunchy, chocolate cookie.

I was feeling a bit loopy last night. I couldn’t tell if it was the cold meds or the cookies.

I presume the later.

I’ll be buzzin’ through my week for sure… see ya!

* * *

Are you an espresso enthusiast?

You may also like:

• Cappuccino Chip Muffins
• Chocolate Espresso Energy Bites
• Apricot Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hope y’all have had a tasty Cookie Friday and are well into enjoying a beautiful June weekend.

Confession: the other day I bought a 30oz. bag of my favorite chocolate chips – uh oh, UH OH!

In order to prevent myself from the dangerous act of devouring the massive bag, handful by handful, I put them to better use by baking a batch of birthday cookies for a friend.

Browned Butter Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 c. unsalted butter, melted & browned to ~3/4 c. butter
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 T pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut, toasted
• 1 c. dark chocolate chips

See Joy The Baker’s recipe for specific instructions.

Notes:

I made these with my burley biceps (wearing my running skirt after a challenging workout, no less); though I think using an electric stand mixer – as Joy used – would produce much better results. The dough is too stiff to thoroughly mix by hand – I got an arm workout! – and thus, the cookies have a slightly grainy texture (as you may notice in the photos).

Saying the cookies taste buttery is an understatement – they’re almost shortbread like. I was a tad disappointed with how my “gourmet” browned butter cookies turned out, but they definitely deserve a second chance with the help of pink KitchenAid mixer.

Hello, gorgeous!

On that note, I’m sugared out.

It might be a chia seed, coconut water, Sunshine Smoothie, wheatberry salad kind of a weekend…

After a 60-minute outdoor run, 100 walking lunges, 20 minutes of kettlebell conditioning, drinking a Sunshine Smoothie, and munching through a plate of greens, I had a hankering for a sweet treat that wasn’t remotely healthy.

I know it isn’t Cookie Friday, but my desire to bake a batch of buttery cookies just couldn’t be ignored.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Cookies

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

• 1/2 tsp. baking soda

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1/2 c. brown sugar

• 1/2 c. granulated sugar

• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1 egg

• 1 c. dark chocolate chips – I used Ghirardelli bittersweet (60% cocoa) chips

• 1/2 c. sweetened dried cherries

• 1/2 c. pistachio pieces, unsalted

In medium bowl, cream together (by mixer or by hand) the softened butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla – mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture –stir to combine. Fold in chips, cherries, and pistachios.

Roll dough into balls, ~2T each, and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake @ 350* for ~12 minutes.

Makes approx. 2 dozen melt-in-your-mouth cookies.

When you’re worn out on expensive gluten-free flour, vegan, flax-seed fortified cookies and you want the real deal – a buttery chocolate chip cookie with a little added pizzazz – remember this recipe.

Have a sweet week!

If I said I’ve finally got around to my holiday baking, that’d be a lie because the recipe that I’m about to share with you doesn’t require turning on the oven. 

I’ve had this recipe saved under my cookie bookmark for quite a while. I don’t know why I waited so long to whip up this easy recipe – holy deliciousness!! Thank you, Jessica.

I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used TJ’s Old Fashioned Cinnamon Grahams. I’m not sure which brand of grahams were used in the original recipe, but I think TJ’s is the way to go… unless you use homemade crackers a la Ashley’s recipe.

No-Bake P.nut Buttah Cookies

• 1 1/4 c. cinnamon graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 c. + 1 T peanut butter
• 1/3 c. brown rice syrup
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of ginger
• bittersweet chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until they form into a ball of dough. Roll dough into round balls, then flatten and make criss-cross indentations using a fork. Melt chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup, in a double-boiler. Place warm chocolate into a pastry bag [a plastic bag will do just fine] and drizzle delicately over the cookies. Refrigerate cookies until you’re ready to indulge, or share with friends at your next holiday party.

Makes 20 cookies 16 cookies after you eat spoonful after spoonful of dough.

Mouth-watering and decadent they are… vegan-friendly, too!

* * *

I’m headed to a get-together tonight with the members of my cross-country team to watch the video that was made in 2006 of my senior year season. Looking forward to reminiscing the good old days…

Hope your days are merry & bright,

Hillary

… and you thought I wasn’t going to post today. Studying metabolic pathways or blogging? Hmmm… tough decision.

First things first. The random winner of my blogiversary giveaway is:

Comment #50: Sami!

Please e.mail me your mailing address, so I can mail your freshly-made granola & decadent dark chocolate.

Next up: pumpkin recipes!

After a 40-minute run around my neighborhood this morning, I came home and made a special Saturday breakfast that I had dreamt up last night while in the shower. You never know when an idea will strike!

Fall “French Toast” Sandwich

This is about as far away from traditional French toast as one can get.

What you’ll need:

• 1 TJ’s British Style Multigrain English Muffin
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 2T maple almond butter
• 2T pumpkin
• cinnamon
• 1/2 c. soy milk – I used unsweetened.
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk [may use flax “eggs” to make the recipe vegan]
• real maple syrup for drizzling

I didn’t realize I only had about 1-2 tsp. of maple syrup left. Not to worry…

To make:

In a shallow dish, mix soy milk, eggs & cinnamon [recipe makes more than enough liquid for one sandwich]. Spread almond butter on one half of the English muffin, and pumpkin on the other. Place banana slices in between the two layers. Then place the sandwich in the egg batter, flipping to coat both sides. Lastly, cook over medium heat, about 3-5 minutes each side until crispy and golden brown. Drizzle with real maple syrup. 

Turns out the fork wasn’t necessary. I picked it up and ate it like a sandwich, hence the recipe name.

YUM!

To warm me up from my chilly run, a hot cup of drip coffee just like my dad makes. I am father’s daughter after all.

And now for recipe #2.

In honor of Cookie Friday yesterday, I made cookies of course! I didn’t realize how similar this recipe is to the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I made almost exactly 1 year ago. However, these are easily 6x better – practice makes progress :)

Pumpkin Pecan White Chocolate Chip Cookies

What you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour + 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 flax “egg” [1T flax + 3T water]
• 1 [15 oz.] can pumpkin
• 1 c. white chocolate chips
• 3/4 c. pecans, toasted + chopped

To make:

In large bowl mix dry ingredients [items 1-4]. In another large bowl, combine butter and sugars. Add vanilla and “egg” – mix thoroughly. Stir in pumpkin. Then add the dry mixture. Fold in chips & nuts. Scoop 2T of batter onto a greased baking sheet. Bake @ 375* for 12-15 minutes, until edges start to turn golden.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies to share with your favorite friends.

“These cookies are the death of me”, exclaims the dear roommate as she pries into the bag first thing this morning.

* * *

Alright, I guess it’s time to tackle those metabolic pathways. This will be the death of me. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend. Let me know if you give either of these recipes a try.

Take it easy, foodie friends.

HP

P.S. Did you notice the nutty new page up top!?

Three cheers for Cookie Friday!

Three cheers for finishing my 3rd week!

Three cheers for running 3 speedy miles!

I’ve been itching to make this recipe since it made an appearance at In Praise of Leftovers. After all, they include three of my favorite things: 1) apricots, 2) dark chocolate, and 3) espresso. I finally had an excuse – and the time! – to bake a batch today. After my final class for the week, I made a quick 3-minute stop at the store to buy a bag of $3 choco chips. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, so I was tempted to take an afternoon siesta, but boy am I glad I decided to turn on the oven and make these babies instead. The recipe was so simple; I had bakery-worthy cookies and washed dishes in <30 minutes.

As Tina would say, “holy yummm!”.

Apricot Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 c. all-purpose flour + 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 T instant espresso powder
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted and cooled*
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla
• 2 c. chocolate chips
• 1 c. coarsely chopped dried apricots

In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugars, salt, baking powder, and espresso powder.

Add egg, egg yolk, melted butter, and vanilla – stir once or twice, then add chocolate chips and dried apricots.

Refrigerate dough for 10-20 minutes as you clean up the kitchen.

Place balls of cookie dough [small or large – you chose!] onto cookie sheets.

Bake @ 350* for 12-14 minutes.

*Note: I reduced the amount of butter from the original recipe from 2 cups to less than 1 1/2 cups. Though, when combining the wet ingredients with the dry, I decided the dough needed a bit more moisture, so I added 2 T of canola oil – perfect! [You could just as easily add more buttah.]

Make these please please please… and then eat three!

* * *

So, like I said, I decided to forgo my nap and instead, I drank a 24oz. Ball jar of green tea and ate a warm, homemade cookie. Caffeine + glucose and I was ready to run into the weekend! My roommate and I headed to The Resort for some exercise around 5:00pm – what exciting Friday night lives we have, huh? I wasn’t intending to have a great workout [my legs were throbbing last night], but my body surprised me.

Unplanned Speed Workout:

• Mile 1: 9:00
• Strength Training:
  • 3 planks @ 1 min.
  • random arm exercises + squats
• Mile 2: 8:30
• Mile 3: 7:30!

If all this speed and strength training doesn’t pay off, I’m going to be quite disappointed. Do you think I should be worrying about neglecting my long runs!?

Gotta get back to my exciting [wink wink] Friday night.

xo Hill

I’ll leave you with three:

1) Three things that made you happy today…

1) Braided Hair 2) Cute Boys 3) Sunshine

2) Three favorite cookie ingredients…

1) Chocolate – duh! 2) Oats – yes please! 3) NUTS

3) Three things you’re looking forward to…

1) Pumpkins 2) The Holidays 3) Running Half Marathon #3

GIVEAWAY: Don’t miss your chance to win a custom box of Element Bars. There are four easy ways to enter. Go get creative!

* * *

Hey! Happy Saturday/almost Sunday! Wahoo…I can hardly believe I made it through my last week of classes alive. I’ve got four finals standing between me and the end of my 3rd year of college. I will be officially done Thursday morning – I can taste the finish. This week wasn’t as terrible as I had it panned out to be. My key to staying sane? Exercise! Between being under the weather and travelling, my workouts had been few and far apart. I knew getting my heart pumping would help reduce my stress – at least momentarily – which is why I made it a goal to exercise every day. As Saturday comes to a close, I can say I’ve done just that – I fit physical exercise into my schedule 6 days in a row… and it’s in tomorrow’s plans as well.

Saturday’s Sweat Session:

45-minutes treadmill intervals

• 10 min. @ 4.4mph – 4.0 incline
• 10 min. @ 7.0mph
• 10 min. @ 4.0mph – 4.0 incline
• 10 min. @ 7.4mph
• 5 min. @ 4.0mph [cool down]

+ stretching and more stretching

Unfortunately, blogging didn’t make it to the top of my priority list amidst my mad dash to the finish, but I will share with you a few random eats from the latter half of the week…

1/4 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. oat bran, 1/2T flax, cinnamon, pear & almond butter

whole wheat mac & cheese with peas please + a “green” monster [1 c. organic spinach, 1/2 c. very cherry frozen berries, 1/2 c. 2% Greek, 1/2 banana]

Thursday I came home after a long day at school to a tub of Great Harvest cookie dough sitting on my shelf of the fridge with a “Happy Studying” note. Roomie love! These definitely made an appearance for Cookie Friday ; )

So much real buttah!

I think I could live off of Dr. Praeger’s California Veggie Burgers. I easily eat through a box a week.

1 beautiful burger atop organic baby lettuces, 1/4 avocado, raw sunflower seeds + olive oil & seasoned rice vinegar

These slipped away faster than the shutter of my camera – oopsie!

I’ve tried to keep focused on Organic Chemistry, Food Safety, Statistics, and such… but sometimes I got a little sidetracked:

• I found my birthday cake: chocolate + avocado + spinach whipped cream. FYI, Ashley rocks my socks!
• I’ve been convinced to buy organic strawberries, and only organic. Read why.
• I’m ready for salad season, and so is Sarah [delicious recipe here!].
• Chocolate: The Dos & The Don’ts
• It’s National Chocolate Chip Day today! Like I need another reason to inhale my bittersweet morsels.
• Reality Check: 7 Harsh Truths That Will Improve Your Health

Do you have any excellent articles to share?

How do you stay sane when life gets stressful?

Whatcha up to this stunning weekend?

Catch ya later!

Hillary

Yesterday I got a little carried away writing with a plethora of P’s. I’ll try not to go there today with the letter T, although it’s tempting ; ) Any guesses about the title? Two hundred… treats, tweets, tests? [You’ll have to read to the end for me to reveal…]

Today’s Tuesday task list was tight, yet I managed to tackle it all:

• 3-hr. Chem Lab check
• Trader Joe’s Trip check
• Intern Interview – cross your fingers check
• Visit Verizon – a new Blackberry, alive & well…and not tear-soaked! check
• Running Tuesday check
• Homework [in progress]
• Blog check

First things first. BREAKFAST, obviously!

I created quite the tasty bowl of oat bran out of my nearly bare kitchen.

• 1 1/4 c. H2O
• 1/2 c. oat bran
• 1/2 T ground flax
• 1 T walnuts
• 4 dried apricots
• agave drizzle

No need to go fancy to get full, folks!

After chem and eating “lunch” [1 piece whole wheat toast + PB, 1/2 banana & 12 oz. soy latte -- I had the biggest craving for p.nut buttah!], I made my rounds at TJ’s and rushed home for my interview for a summer internship. I’m not going to say much more at this point; I don’t want to jinx the possibilities : )

After last week’s incident with my brand new Blackberry, my replacement arrived in the mail today. I hurried down the street to Verizon where they got Blackberry #2 up and running. Running. Yes, something I needed to do…especially since it’s Running Tuesday! Thanks to Sarah, this was about the only thing that got me motivated today. I made an attempt with the treadmill today:

3 x 10-minute sets

1. 6 min. @ 6.4, 4 min. @ 6.8 [2.0 incline]
2. alternate 6.6 & 8.0 @ 2 min. intervals
3. 4 min. @ 6.8, 6 min. @ 6.4 [2.0 incline]

+ arms & abs

I didn’t always enjoy running on the treadmill, but somehow it made it’s way into my regular exercise regimen. My Tip: keep it interesting with intervals!

Running with Rachel Ray for 30-minutes, and I was ready to make a 30-minute 10-minute [“healthy meal from start to finish”] of my own!

+

+

=

Spinach Ricotta Rav + Organic Marinara + Organic Italian Parsley

Organic Heirloom Lettuce + Organic Cherry Tomatoes + Chevre & Seasoned Rice Vinegar

It sure hit the spot for being a relatively low-fat supper, but I didn’t stop there of course…

Milk & Cookies

 Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

I spied these little guys at TJ’s today and didn’t feel guilty about spending the dough [haha] on store-bought treats after the cashier raved about them: 100% whole wheat flour, oats & walnuts = 3 g fiber/serving. Perhaps I should apply for a Trader Joe’s PR position : )

Anyway, I must close. My to-do list is outta control! That is not what the Tuesday Two Hundred was referring to, but it might as well. The answer to my tumbler: this is the 200th post @ Nutrition Nut on the Run! That’s a lot of words, a lot of pictures…and a lot of smiles.

I hope your final week of April is A-OK!

Hillary

All day yesterday I had a million ideas swimming around in my head about what I wanted to write about in honor of Earth Day…but as you may have noticed, I never got around to getting those thoughts out to the world wide web. Between a dead loner phone and a busy schedule, the Internet and I were running different routes yesterday.

Anyway, did you all celebrate Earth Day by being “green”? I try my best to be friendly to Mother Earth every day. Here are a few ways that I reduce my footprint:

• Ride the bus to and from campus.
• Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.
• Wash and reuse plastic food bags.
• Bring reusable bags to the grocery store.
• & rarely ever use produce bags.
• Use a stainless steel H2o bottle.
• Use cold water only for laundry.
• Buy recycled paper products.
• Buy locally grown products if available.

How do you GO GREEN?

Of course yesterday’s efforts wouldn’t be complete without making a Green Monster. I went all out and added more green to the mix by adding avocado – yes, you heard me right…avocado in my smoothie. Ashley’s smoothies always entice me by their thick, glossy appearance – I had to give it a try.

1 cup organic baby spinach, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 cup frozen very cherry berry blend, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

The verdict: it tasted healthy…obviously. Even though it may look like a chocolate shake, it was far from it! Seriously…how more pure can you get?

I can hardly recollect what else I consumed yesterday, but I do remember going to the gym for a 1-hour spin class + 1 mi. run + a bit of conditioning. Oh, and I carpooled to the gym : )

* * *

Today I woke up excited to know that I had finally made it to Friday – it was an emotionally stressful week to say the least. After a green lunch [veggie burger + edamame hummus + avocado], I decided it was necessary to celebrate Cookie Friday. So…I pulled out a few frozen cookie dough balls I stuck in the freezer from the previous celebration and within minutes, I had gooey, warm chocolate chip cookies.

I had another thing to celebrate today:

I am officially a participant of the Nike Women’s [1/2] Marathon 2010…and Courtney is too – hip hip hooray!

Naturally, I celebrated by going for a 32-minute run around the neighborhood in the beautiful, late-afternoon sun. Nothing else is a better cure for letting go of a rough week.

Court and I are ecstatic! I think this girlie weekend will be epic.

* * *

Dinner

Ya’ll seriously need to copy Caitlin on this. It is what you see – a ‘baked’ sweet tater & vegetarian baked beans – and it’s “epic” [as she would say]. It may be a little starch/sugar heavy, but just focus on all the incredible nutrients on my plate.

I may or may not have just polished off my fresh Friday cookies sitting here writing away; I’m not too worried about it though : )

Can I bicker for just 1 second?

• Weekend Weather Forecast: 80* sunshine
• Hillary’s Schedule: O. Chem Exam #4 Monday @ 10:00am

I’m going to figure out a way to soak up the sun somehow. I am going to find a way…

Happy Weekend!

Hillary

Hellooo and hooray for the weekend! I hope ya’ll have something exciting and/or enjoyable planned. Whatever you do, don’t forget to enter my Greek GIVEAWAY by Sunday @ 12:00pm. You’ve got three chances to win! …and speaking of Greek, I had my free honey Oikos for breakfast today with the last of my homemade granola and half of a crunchy pear. This was too sweet for my a.m. taste buds. It seems as though most of you prefer Plain Jane style when in comes to Greek, too.

After class this afternoon, I attempted to run outside. Key word: afternoon. I should have known…exercise in the middle of day is rarely a success for me. I gave it another shot though, and ran for 20 minutes around campus and our track until I finally listened to the throbbing pain in my upper back and gave in to walking. I added another 10 minutes to my watch as I made my way back to the gym where I did a thorough stretch. My legs are still unusually sore from Tuesday – what the heck! Hello, off week. You’re excused to leave now.

Lunch was an exact repeat of Wednesday’s eats, because 1) today was a lazy day, and 2) why wouldn’t I want a very berry Green Monster & jam-cheddar sandwich again?

Then I turned on Food Network – which I haven’t watched in ages! – while I winded down from the week with cookie baking. I think many of you would agree that the kitchen can often be a place to destress [ahem, Allie & Jenna]. So, I got to making Pioneer Woman’s “Good Ol’ Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies”. [Before you read on, go check out this amazing blog!]

I made a couple tweaks to the original recipe:

1 cup real butter

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour & 1 cup + 2 T whole wheat flour

1 tsp. instant coffee granules

1/2 T baking powder

1/2 T salt

2 T ground flax

~2/3 bag Guittard semisweet chocolate chips

Note to self: Do not make cookies while home alone, and there isn’t anyone with whom to share 3 dozen cookies. I ended up eating more cookies than I deserved, but then I thought about Allie and Tina who have admitted to eating 4 1/2 granola bars or half a dozen cookies themselves; then I didn’t feel so bad. How do you handle food guilt?

***

I was surprised that I never got hungry for dinner, but when 8 o’clock rolled around I finally decided to eat something. I threw together a salad [basically a repeat from last night plus a bit a creamy chevre]. I made a smart choice in eating dinner [like I would miss a meal!] because it was nothing short of scrumptious!

I have a quiet, yet BUSY weekend planned. I’m hoping to tackle a few lingering items on my to-do list, fit in a couple worthwhile workouts, and pick up the slack with my studies.

“See you” soon!

Hillary