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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Chai and Cookies

Today was annoying.  That's really the only way I can put it.  I did get a run in this morning, 4 miles...4 FREEZING miles.  My legs were bright red when I got home, and I was wearing two pairs of pants.  

After I work out, no matter if I am running, biking, lifting, or yoga-ing, I have a combination of carbs and protein.  Since I was so cold today I wanted something besides my normal orange juice and protein powder.  So I brewed up some chai tea, melted a banana, and blended that with my protein powder.  It was especially delicious with some soy whip and cinnamon on top. 

Post Workout Chai 


The nutrition information for this depends largely on the type of protein powder you use.  Mine is a half rice-half gemma (pea) protein custom mix from True Protein, sweetened with stevia.  
With that, the nutrition information was:
Nutrition Information:  214.6 Calories;  1.5g Total Fat;  0.4g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  4.9g Sodium;  27.4g Carbohydrates;  3.8g Fiber;  24.6g Protein

For what I guess was lunch, I had some rice noodles with a really simple peanut sauce.  It was about 1 tbsp Peanut Butter, about 1/4 cup hot water, a few splashes of lemon juice, Bragg's, and rice wine vinegar, and some crushed red pepper flakes.  Nothing special, although it was good.  

Nutrition Information:  366.4 Calories;  9.1g Total Fat;  1.8g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  331.5mg Sodium;  62.8g Carbohydrates;  9.5g Fiber;  13.5g Protein

Like I said, today was annoying.  I missed my husband's phone call for the second day in a row, I haven't talked to him in awhile, and my family was just all getting on each others' nerves.  So, I had to get out of the house.  I really wanted to make cookies...specifically Dreena's Chocolate Mint Melties, so I went to the grocery store.  They didn't have spelt flour.  In efforts to keep things gluten free, I did get some brown rice flour and buckwheat flour.  While they tasted delicious, I think I should have added some Xantham Gum or something, because they were sort of an ooey gooey mess.  Okay, I shouldn't say mess, they were just so soft that it was difficult to get them from the baking sheet to the cooling rack.  Once they cooled they did stay together though.  They are nice and chewy, very minty, and I used pretty coarse sea salt, so I thought that gave them a nice saltiness here and there.  

I found the recipe online too, if you're interested:  Chocolate Mint Melties  

Dreena's recipe says it makes 11-14 large cookies.  I feel like you could make them regular cookie size though, just watch the baking time.  They do look pretty though.  For fun, I'll give you the comparison of making 11 vs 14.  
Serves 14 
Nutrition Information:  162.8 Calories;  8.2g Total Fat;  2.9g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  124.8mg Sodium;  20.8g Carbohydrates;  2.4g Fiber;  2.3g Protein
Serves 11
Nutrition Information:  207.2 Calories;  10.4g Total Fat;  3.7g Saturated Fat;  0.0mg Cholesterol;  158.9g Sodium;  26.5g Carbphydrates;  3.1g Fiber;  2.9g Protein

Honestly, I'm just glad today is over at this point.  I hate days like that, but its true.  I have so so so much to do this week, a take home essay final due Tuesday, a huge project due on Thursday that I have yet to start, and I feel like Christmas has completely snuck up on me this year.  

Bah.  Maybe I am in such a bad mood because I don't have any cooking song today.  Music usually makes me feel better.  

10 comments:

  1. Aw, i'm sorry today was so bad! I hope your day is better tomorrow.

    Mmm, I love your idea for the chai tea! I think I will try that, I sounds fabulous. And those cookies look deelicious!

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  2. The best combination chai and cookies !yum! sorry about your day:(

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  3. gina, i give you a lot of credit for running in the cold!! i just can't do it. i tried last week and it was so hard. i brought my huge fake dog with me to the park and we tried to run together, but it just didn't work out haha

    those choc. mint melties look great!! i'm glad to know that you used brown rice flour. it doesn't work out in my muffins, EVER, but i'll definitely try it in cookies from now on.

    finals will be over soon!!! i wish you all the best of luck!!

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  4. Thanks for stopping by my blog. You make vegan look good! My husband and I tried many years ago but all we did was eat pasta and get fat ;-)The chai looks wonderful.

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  5. Sorry you missed your phone call. Your cookies look yummy :) I love anything chocolate mint. Was your chai still hot when you added your protein powder? I've tried warm protein drinks because sometimes I just don't want a cold smoothie. My powder (Jay Robb) always gets clumpy when added to hot beverages.
    www.heathereatsalmondbutter.com

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  6. Shelby and Larisa, thanks for stopping by! I am hoping today will be better :)

    Joanna, any idea why it doesn't work in your muffins? Have you tried the Xantham Gum? I bought some when I bought the all purpose baking mix, and it said to use Xanthan Gum to sort of mimic the gluiness the gluten usually gives. I am curious now, as I was going to use it to make some bread..I'll let you know it if works out!

    kden, thank you so much for the compliment!

    Heather, the chai was still hot, and it wasn't clumpy at all. I added just a little bit of chai (1/2 cup maybe), the banana, and the protein powder and blended until it was smooth, then added the rest of the chai. But it was definitely warm! The soy whip is actually melting away in the picture, I had to act fast!

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  7. I am thanking SiuilARuin because their snarkiness lead me to read your blog!

    Very nice blogging. I send you hugs and good wishes on this journey called life. You are so good to start healthiness now. I started in my late 30's.

    BTW, the skin thing is just your system detoxing...try Shaklee products, or any hypo/sensitive/cruelty free products to balance your ph.

    I did not know there was soy whip, I have been living without! You have inspired me to bake (again I was just doing without) which will make my son VERY happy! THANKS!! (sorry for long comment)

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  8. The chai sounds just perfect for a cold day! Did you blend the banana into the chai? Or were the chai and bana shake two seperate things? (sorry if that sounds dumb :))

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  9. Houseonahill, don't apologize for the long comment! I really appreciate you backing me up, it was upsetting me more than it should have. And thanks for the comment about the skin...I'm just glad it is clearer. And soy whip is really fantastic :)

    Sala, the banana was blended into the chai, mainly because I wanted to get some carbs after my workout...you could absolutely leave it out. But, yes, they were the same thing (and it doesn't sound dumb)!

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  10. Oh yum, I can't resist chai in any form, and topping off a big mug with soy whip would be such a treat! Hope you're having a better day by now. :)

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