About Moi

About Moi
My Name is Brittany, and I'm 23yrs old. I was diagnosed with Lupus when I was 15, and then diagnosed with RA, when I was 18. I also got married when I was 18, and I'm enjoying my happily ever after with my hubby! When I got married, I was slim and trim...But not for long. After getting married, I started to gain a LOT of weight! In 1yr, I gained 50lbs! Finally, I went to the Doctor, where I discovered I have low thyroid. After being put on medicine, my weight gain slowed down, although over the next 3yrs, I gained an additional 26lbs. When I was 20yrs old, I got yet another diagnoses of Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. That's 4 diagnoses in a 5yr period, if you lost count. They all effect my weight, in one way or another. Add on top of that, my love affair with food, and every 1 of those 76lbs gained was accounted for. Being 76lbs over weight is unhealthy for anyone, but it was especially unhealthy for me, and my health issues. Since starting this blog, in Jan-2010, I have lost 40lbs! I'm a new, slimmer, and healthier me! Before losing weight, I was told I needed knee replacements. Losing weight was the ONLY tool I had to help me hold off on that life changing surgery. Since losing 40lbs, my knees have never felt better! My husband and I are also trying to start a family, but my PCOS was not going to make it as easy as 1,2,3, as I didn't have periods on my own. My doctor had told me if I wanted a baby, I HAD to lose weight. Since losing 40lbs, I've had regular cycles for the first time in my life! Which is very important when trying to have a baby ;) This journey of mine is more than me simply wanting to wear skinny jeans. It has been a quest to becoming :Deliciously Healthy, so ALL of my dreams can come true! I'm almost half way there! With each new day, I get closer and closer to my goal of 120lbs, and becoming :Deliciously Healthy!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Brittany's Kitchen Adventures- Clean Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few weeks ago, I made THESE delicious chocolate chip cookies. They had half the calories as regular chocolate chip cookies. They were heaven. I can almost taste them now...

To make them cleaner, I substituted half the flour with
whole wheat pastry flour
, and the other half with
oat flour
. Everything else stayed the same....My husband said they tasted like a dog biscuit with chocolate chips in it. And I agree. I can't believe how much changing the flour can change an entire cookie. What the heck dude?!

So the quest continues, to find a Deliciously Clean dessert.
(Thank you for your clean eating tips in my last post. I will definitely be checking them out.)

***
I didn't have the healthiest weekend ever. We were at a car dealership ALL day with nothing to eat. When we finally left (with my new car:), we were starving, and an Olive Garden was right across the street. So we went. And I enjoyed. Then Sunday I had leftovers. But today- today was good. And so will be tomorrow, and the next day. I'm doing this- I just got to find some clean desserts, to keep me motivated. A girl needs her chocolate.

12 comments:

Becky said...

Hi Brittany,
Your husband sounds a lot like mine--I get similar comments about dog food when I experiment with healthier versions of desserts. I think it's often really hard to substitute all the white flour and have the cookie/muffin/quick bread still taste the same. However, I've learned that 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour doesn't change the taste or texture very much at all. Here are a couple of other things you might try to "clean" your desserts up:
1. Use applesauce (organic and no-sugar added) instead of oil in cakes and muffins.
2. Add a bit of wheat germ to everything --it's got lots of good stuff in it, including a lot of folic acid--and if you don't go overboard with it, it won't change the taste or texture.
3. Use black bean puree instead of eggs and oil in brownies. I know it sounds crazy, but I tried it last week and it was really good. Also, I came across a recipe for black bean fudge which is supposedly delicious. I haven't tried it yet, but I can send you the recipe if you're interested.
Hope this helps a little! :)

erica said...

I am definitely going to need to try to make some cleaner cookies. I am definitely a cookie monster so anything that can make them a little better I definitely need to do!

xo

Renee Paj said...

yes, while cooking gives you a little bit of wiggle room to experiment, baking is a whole nother ball game....lots and lots of science and chemistry go into play. Sometimes just changing the simplest thing and ruin a good recipe. Whole wheat pastry flour is pretty interchangeable with all purpose in baking (makes about the same amount of gluten when baking) so I suspect the problem might have been the oat flour. Keep experimenting...you will get it right! :)

Meg said...

I just had a chance to catch up with your blog. My heart goes out to you about your fertility issues. God has a perfect plan for you, and knows the desires of your heart. You are doing an amazing job with your weight loss, and now new diet plan. I am sure children will be in your future...it just takes a little longer than we would like sometimes! I hope the new fertility meds you are on will help. I know a few girls who went on Clomed(sp?) and now they are parents to some beautiful babies! :) I wish you all the best...you deserve it!

Hannah Houshangi said...

It's extremely difficult switching up flour in recipes and getting good results. I've tried many times - mainly experiementing with making things gluten free (using potato starch or rice flour) for my friend who is Gluten Free. Most of the time I think the result tastes awful. I can definately taste the difference. When I make recipes specifically that are Gluten free I have more success.
In regards to replacing white flour with w/grain or w/meal flour, I have success if I only replace HALF the amount. So for eg, if a cake asks for 2 cups flour, I'd had success using 1 cup plain flour 1 cup w/meal. To replace ALL the flour doesn't work out so well.
Are there sites out there with people (or bloggers) who clean bake and have tried and tested recipes for you to try?
Goodluck! Baking is much more of a science. It's not like cooking hey, where you can just add a bit of this and add a bit of that and come up with something good!

Tiff said...

Eating well at Olive Garden can be tricky- I remember I went one time with every intention to eat healthily by just ordering the soup salad and breadsticks only to come home and look at the nutrition facts realizing I had eaten almost 1700 calories in that one meal! Luckily, OG does have some YUMMY recipes (the apricot chicken dish!) that won't kill you in the calorie dept!

SociallyGreen said...

Mmmm those look good. What a healthy recipe!

Alexia said...

Maybe try a vegan recipe? Those are bound to be "cleaner" and I've had some delicious vegan stuff.

Bella said...

Car dealerships are the worst for keeping you there all day - I think they try to wear you down so you'll pay more than you should. ;) What kind of car did you get?

:Deliciously Healthy said...

So true! I got the new Honda crv :)

Kat said...

CRVs unite! I have a 2006 and just adore mine :)

My motto with Olive Garden is...well, there isn't one. But there's no need to beat yourself up, right? In the scheme of thing every healthy living story involves some indulgences.

Becky Jones said...

Olive Garden isn't too bad to eat at. I ask for salad with dressing on the side and eat lots of salad. I then order off the garden faire menu. There are several good options. If I do pasta I only eat half. Drink lots of water and skip the bread sticks. As far as baking goes my family doesn't like white flour anymore. I hadn't ground wheat for a week during my surgery so we just used white to make cookies and they all complained. It takes time to adjust to new taste but my hubby and kids love oatmeal and whole wheat flour. They even put up with applesauce or mashed bananas rather than the butter or oil and agave, honey or truvia instead of sugar. The sugar substitutes aren't great so lately I have been just halving the sugar amounts and no one notices. Good luck and keep trying.