Zumba and Cookies!
I went to Zumba last night! Oh, how I forgot how much I love it! Great music, fun dancing, and you sweat like crazy but don’t even care because you are having fun! I have read that you can burn up to 1000 calories per hour doing Zumba, 1000! That is another reason why I love Zumba so much. I am lucky in the fact that a local church has the classes 3 times a week and it is a free will offering. So much cheaper than going to the YMCA. I remember the first time I went, I was about 60 pounds heavier and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through class. My leg started to go numb and I had a hard time walking back into my house. I remember thinking that something must be medically wrong with my leg. I would always blame something else on my aches and pains and never my weight. It took me losing the weight to realize that my weight was the problem, seems backward right? Sure I get sore and tired after going to Zumba, but this a good sore. My muscles are toning up and fighting off the fat (thank you muscles!). Zumba isn’t going to be for everyone but I think it’s worth giving it a try, you should go at least twice to find out if you like it. It does take time to learn the dances and moves and you may be nervous about the first class, thinking you are going to fumble around and people are going to stare at you. They won’t even notice if you are messing the dance up because they are watching the instructor the whole time!
Okay, now I’m going to move onto something sinfully good, chocolate chip cookies!!! You may be wondering how I can eat chocolate chip cookies on a diet and not feel guilty about it. Well, if I stuck to the normal recipe I would feel guilty, but I have found ways to tweak ingredients to make them healthier. No chocolate chip cookie is ever going to be “good” for you but these are so much better and I let myself eat 2 or 3 as a snack. I am going to warn you now, there are ingredients in these cookies that you wouldn’t think to put in as well as ingredients that you may think are missing. Just try these and even tweak them!
A Better Chocolate Chip Cookie
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ cup of flour (I use whole graham whole wheat)
¾ cup of applesauce (Sometimes I use grated zucchini or pear puree)
½ to ¾ cup of chocolate chips(depending on what you like)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 320°. Mix the sugars, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined. Sift in flour, salt and baking soda until mixed through. Fold in the chocolate chips. The mixture will be a little thicker than a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they don’t spread out like the normal version.
Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets and drop by rounded spoonful(or cookie scoop if you have one) onto the cookie sheets. Put both sheets in the oven on separate racks for 6-8 minutes. Switch racks and turn the pans and cook for another 6-8 minutes. Cool, then eat!
You read the recipe right, no oil, butter or eggs! I have tweaked that recipe so many times using granola, oats, cinnamon and different amounts of the ingredients. I recommend you do the same and make them to your liking. Cinnamon is a great addition to these cookies, it gives them a hint of something different. So good!
Have you ever tried making a not so healthy recipe, healthy? How did your experiment turn out?
Okay, now I’m going to move onto something sinfully good, chocolate chip cookies!!! You may be wondering how I can eat chocolate chip cookies on a diet and not feel guilty about it. Well, if I stuck to the normal recipe I would feel guilty, but I have found ways to tweak ingredients to make them healthier. No chocolate chip cookie is ever going to be “good” for you but these are so much better and I let myself eat 2 or 3 as a snack. I am going to warn you now, there are ingredients in these cookies that you wouldn’t think to put in as well as ingredients that you may think are missing. Just try these and even tweak them!
A Better Chocolate Chip Cookie
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¾ cup of flour (I use whole graham whole wheat)
¾ cup of applesauce (Sometimes I use grated zucchini or pear puree)
½ to ¾ cup of chocolate chips(depending on what you like)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 320°. Mix the sugars, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined. Sift in flour, salt and baking soda until mixed through. Fold in the chocolate chips. The mixture will be a little thicker than a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they don’t spread out like the normal version.
Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets and drop by rounded spoonful(or cookie scoop if you have one) onto the cookie sheets. Put both sheets in the oven on separate racks for 6-8 minutes. Switch racks and turn the pans and cook for another 6-8 minutes. Cool, then eat!
You read the recipe right, no oil, butter or eggs! I have tweaked that recipe so many times using granola, oats, cinnamon and different amounts of the ingredients. I recommend you do the same and make them to your liking. Cinnamon is a great addition to these cookies, it gives them a hint of something different. So good!
Have you ever tried making a not so healthy recipe, healthy? How did your experiment turn out?
Hey Lacy!! I absolutely love reading your posts, and I am very proud of you for all that you have been able to accomplish!!!! Anyways, I was wondering when these Zumba classes are and IF you would be willing to go with me sometime so that I don't feel all alone?? Also, there is this girl at my work who is a "health nut", and she gave me a healthy recipe for chocolate cupcakes, YUMMY!!! All you need is one box of chocolate cake mix and one regular size can of 100% pumpkin. Thats it!! You just mix these two together until well blended and bake them like normal cupcakes. You don't even taste the pumpkin, and they turn out to be way more moist than regular cupcakes. You can either eat them plan, or with a little bit of cream cheese icing on them. This is such a great low fat recipe!!! Good luck with you weight loss goals this week, and tell Scott to move the mac-n-cheese to the opposite end of the bar so you can't see it or smell it!! LOL
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