Howdy! I’m officially done midterms (cue marching band). Hooray. There were some highs and lows as usual. For my training and development exam (I studied for that one over Thanksgiving) I got the highest mark in the class 
. In my marketing class I had a group project that was going ummmm … not great (understatement) but thankfully, seriously I thank my lucky stars, we ended up with 70%. I’m still waiting on grades for other exams as well as mid term papers.
Yesterday I was recovering from the exams and pretty slow moving. I combined my breakfast and coffee together in this smoothie:
- one scoop Magnum vanilla protein powder
- one frozen banana
- 1/2 cup Almond Fresh almond milk
- 1/2 cup of coffee (cooled down)
Delicious!
After work yesterday I ran to the grocery store. I needed treats for book club and dinner for me. There were a few hours left before book club so I decided to bake. It felt so good to be whipping up some health-ified food in the kitchen, it felt like I was back to my old self. I made chickpea chocolate cupcakes + peanut butter cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes used more Almond Fresh almond milk. They’re gluten free and dairy free. The recipe contains 4 eggs but you could easily make it vegan by using flax eggs. And yes I do realize that the cream cheese frosting now makes it not dairy free but I brought the frosting separately.
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 scoop Magnum vanilla protein
- 3/4 cup cream cheese
- 3 table spoons of peanut butter schmear (yes schmear – it’s from a market where our cottage is)
Through it in food processor and then … well … schmear it on the cupcakes.
Unless …
I never use those little muffin/ cupcake paper thingys (what are they called?)
The darn cupcakes did not want to cooperate. I scooped and scraped all of the cupcakes into a christmas cookie tin, sprinkled walnuts on top, then the frosting, and called it trifle. My friends weren’t buying it … but I think they liked it? The chocolate cake of this is really quite delicious. Really so moist! Just beware the crumbly-ness.
And then after all the slaving over the tiny muffin tin I ate myself a healthy dinner of brown rice, quinoa, green and red peppers and shrimp.
Yup definitely feeling like my old self. Now I just have to get to the gym.
Do ever bake gluten free? Tips for lessening the crumbly-ness? Do you love “getting back” to the kitchen?
*I received free Almond Fresh at the ShesConnected conference last weekend. All opinions and the schmear-iffic frosting recipe is my own 
That cupcake recipe sounds interesting! I might give it a try, though I’ve been hankering to make some pumpkin muffins in the near future. It’s been so cold here, I could not do a smoothie if my life depended on it.
Yummmy!! My trick is bob-red mill’s gluten-free flour and lots of coconut oil to baste the pans and use as oil/butter in the recipe!
Hii love!
So glad midterms are over and you survived!! That frosting recipe sounds delish! And I did the same thing with muffin tins the other day by not using those little filter things (good point, no idea what they are called. liners?)
i love coffee in my smoothie!
I don’t bake gluten free but I do bake vegan. No, I’m not vegan but we can’t have eggs or dairy.
1. Oh my freaking lord at your cupcakes, lol!
2. That smoothie looks like it’d taste like chocolate. Yum?
Cool idea for cupcakes. Sawyer’s birthday is coming up and she asked for chocolate cupcakes. I’ll give these a try!