I stumbled across a recipe a couple weeks ago that I’ve been waiting to try. It was for Iced Coffee and looked DELICIOUS. I made few tweaks to make it fat loss friendly and then had to share it with y’all. SERIOUSLY good, seriously easy, and meets my nutrition goals. Triple win!

Ingredients needed:
32 oz double strength brewed coffee (chilled)
32 oz. UNSWEETENED Vanilla Almond Milk
4 packets Stevia in the Raw (or natural sweetener of your choice). (This is optional if you don’t like sweetener, and for some of you, you may want to add more.
Chocolate Protein Powder
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1. Brew 32 oz DOUBLE STRENGTH coffee and then chill. I put mine in the freezer for around 45 minutes.

2. Once cold, add in 32 oz. unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

3. Add in four packets Stevia in the Raw (or sweetener of your choice)

***At this point, I put mine in the fridge until I’m ready to drink it. When I’m ready for a glass, this is how I prepare it:

1- Pour a glass about 2/3 full of the refrigerated iced coffee mixture

2- Add half a scoop chocolate protein powder

3- Shake in unsweetened cocoa powder to taste (Note: If you are used to really sweet stuff, you may want to go light on this at first. it is NOT sweetened)

4- Stir. I use a fork, but you could shake in a jar with a lid or blend. I hate to dirty up dishes, so I just use a fork.

5- Add ice and a straw and enjoy!

I’ve had a glass of this every afternoon now for three days in a row and I am in LOVE.

When I have to go back to work I plan to take a jar of this and then add in the protein powder and cocoa, shake and drink.

ENJOY!!!

This past winter, I enrolled in an online cooking class. It was taught by Leslie Ann Quillen and was called Fat Loss Cooking School. She teaches how to cook foods that are fat loss friendly and she is a huge proponent of Metabolic Effect style of eating (my personal preference. See my Recommendations page for more info).

Leslie Ann can throw together recipes that I never would have thought of. Last month, she posted a recipe for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles. I tried them one day when I was in a desparate hunt for a sweet treat, and they did NOT disappoint.

I’ve since made them multiple times and have tweaked her basic recipe a tiny bit.

For the full low-down, some much better pictures, nutrition info and a step by step guide, GO HERE NOW.

My version is basically the same as hers plus one more ingredient for a bit of crunch: peanuts!

First, gather your ingredients.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (this is a superfood and a serious craving crusher!)
Just Good Stuff Organic Chocolate Powdered Peanut Butter (you can also use PB2 for this in the regular or the chocolate version- in my opinion the chocolate variety is tastier in this recipe)
Peanuts
Water

Here’s an up close shot of the Organic Powdered Peanut Butter ingredients: I found mine at a local health food store- on sale it was $7.99. OUCH. However, it has lasted a long time.

1-I crush/chop my peanuts. Don’t overcomplicate this- Typically I chop a bunch in advance and keep in a bowl in the cabinet. Today I was out so I took a TB of peanuts, put them in a snack bag, and then rolled a heavy candle over top until they were crushed up. Put in small bowl.

2- Add in 2 TB of the powdered chocolate peanut butter (or regular variety if that’s what you’re using)

3- Add in 1 tsp of UNSWEETENED cocoa powder

4- Add in 1 TB of water.

5- Stir and then form into two little balls. If they are too runny, add more powdered pb. If too dry, add a little water.

At this point Leslie Ann rolls them in more cocoa powder. I like mine without it- do what you like. You could also add more chopped peanuts at this point to make them look prettier 🙂

Eat both of these little truffles and enjoy them GUILT FREE. The hormonal carb value is a zero or a negative number (depending on the # peanuts you used), so you can enjoy them without having to worry about what they are doing to your fat-loss efforts.

A little FYI- if you are early on in your health journey and are used to really sweet treats, these may seem a bit “off” to you. Now that I’ve weaned off of most sweets, I LOVE things with unsweetened cocoa powder, but for some people, this is a bit of an acquired taste. I gave these truffles to my kids. One LOVED them, one ran to the bathroom and spit it out.

For me, they are a great option when I’m wanting a treat but know I don’t need anything- especially at night!

Try them and let me know what you think!

Each year, I try to really stock up on blueberries and strawberries when they are in season. We use them year round in our morning protein shakes and we go through A LOT of berries!

This week a friend tracked down a good deal on two gallons of strawberries for me so I was able to get them ready for the freezer. This helps me save money (fresh in-season berries are always way cheaper than the frozen ones I purchase), and they are a cleaner version (I try to buy organic or at least minimal pesticide berries locally).

This is the way that I prepare them, which has worked well for me in the past. There are many other methods, but I needed quick and easy, so this is what I usually do.

1- Soak berries in produce wash. You can find my recipe for this here.

While one batch is soaking, I rinse another and let them drain.

2- Rinse berries and lay out on clean towel to dry. (I usually go do something else and let these dry for a while).

3- Cap strawberries (no need to do anything else if freezing blueberries).

4- Arrange on a cookie sheet or flat pan in single layer and put in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

5- Take berries off of sheet and put into freezer safe bag. I usually use the quart size freezer bags. (Tip: don’t try to pile too many berries into one bag- they’ll end up freezing to one another and you’ll have a MESS on your hands. Been there, done that!)

Any time you find a great deal on fresh berries, you can use this method to make sure that your berries will be clean, fresh, and ready to enjoy!