Aerophobia

Well, I survived my interval run this morning. It actually turned out to be a nice run! At first, I decided to go to my old high school and run on the track here. I drove there and some guy was working there (spraying weeds around the track or something) and I chickened out. So I drove to the State Park and ran the trail there instead.

On the schedule was 10 x 400's with equal recovery in-between. Basically that means to run 1/4 mile fast and then jog 1/4 mile... and repeat for a total of 10 times. I tacked on a warm-up and cool-down, too. Once I got home and looked at my stats, I realized I definitely should have been running faster on the fast intervals--it felt like I was going faster than a 9:00/mi! Oh well.

This is the "fast" part in total

This is the "recovery" part in total

The run as a whole

I was surprised that there weren't more people at the State Park. Michigan is GORGEOUS this time of year. Oh, but wait... check out what I found in a magazine recently:

Yep, good old D-town is the NUMBER ONE unhealthiest city in the United States. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I rarely come across anyone exercising around here ;)  Toledo is #4--and I might as well mention that I live about halfway between Toledo and Detroit. Right smack in the middle of unhealthy cities.

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I leave for Arizona in 20 more days!! It's coming up so fast. I couldn't fall asleep last night because I kept picturing being on the airplane. As you probably know, I'm TERRIFIED of flying. I hate it more than anything. Which is kind of ironic because my brother is a pilot for Delta. When visiting him one time, he took us to the flight simulators that they use to train pilots for the airlines--and he let us fly them. Even though it was inside a building and it wasn't even a real airplane, I had a panic attack and had to get out of the simulator. THAT is how bad my fear is.

Speaking of that, someone asked me a while ago what the story is with me and the open-airplane I flew on last summer. Jerry and I took the kids to Minnesota to visit my brother Brian (we drove there, of course). Brian's roommate from college has a few different airplanes, and he invited us to the hanger for a barbecue and ride on the Breezy (a two-person completely open airplane). I had NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in flying, but I went along to the hanger because Jerry wanted to go.

There was another family that knew Steve (my brother's college roommate), and they all went for rides and loved it. Jerry went last, and when I saw the pictures he took of himself, I thought, "What a cool pic to post on Facebook!! I so badly wish I could do that!"  which led to my thinking about how this truly is the opportunity of a lifetime. And how SHOCKED would my family and friends be if I actually did this?!

So I told Steve I wanted to go for a ride. And I almost threw up. I went to the bathroom and literally was dry heaving. Steve knew I was terrified, and I really trusted that he wouldn't do anything crazy. I told him, "I'm going to cry and look completely miserable. So if you turn around and see me sobbing, don't worry about it. Just finish the flight." Hahaha. He promised that he'd get me back safely.

So I threw on a sweatshirt and the leather cap and goggles, and strapped myself as tightly as possible to the seat. My heart was racing and I couldn't breathe. I just kept reminding myself that in 10 minutes, I'd be back on the ground. And off we went...

This is the Breezy... and no, I did NOT let my kids fly on it ;)

The view from the Breezy

Jerry's picture that made me decide to brave the Breezy myself

I wasn't faking the smile... I really loved it!

But I still held a death-grip to the seat

My kids really wanted to fly, but I refused to let them fly on the Breezy. Steve generously got out a different plane and took the kids (and Jerry) for a ride on that. They loved it!

I forget the name of this airplane

It was Eli's very first time flying

So needless to say, flying on the Breezy was a HUUUGE deal for me!! But I was still terrified of flying. Shortly after I got home, Brian asked me to fly out there for The Ragnar Relay, and I did. My friend Stacie went with me, and we went to the airport early so that I could drink a few glasses of wine first. That helped a lot!

My flight to Arizona is in the morning, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to drink beforehand. I'll probably take some Valium, but that usually doesn't help. Just 20 days left of worrying.

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Well this turned into a really long entry and I didn't mean for it to. Are you scared of flying? How do you deal with it?

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Running, Dad's birthday, and TBL

I don't know if it was the afternoon wine yesterday or what, but my head was killing me when I woke up. I decided to put off my run until late morning instead of my usual 8:00 time when the kids go to school. I drank tons of water (and coffee) and felt a little better. I had a 5 1/2 mile easy run scheduled, and I decided to go a different route just to change things up.

I listened to a new (to me) podcast called YELL AT YOUR FAT or something like that. It was kind of boring and I was spacing out, and the run felt like it took forever. Then on the way home, there were some trucks fixing potholes in the roads, and they were driving right on the shoulder. I had to run in the grass for about 1/4 mile. That wasn't fun at all.

Tomorrow I have intervals... groan.

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Last night we went to my parents house for my dad's 60th birthday (today is his actual birthday). We sat down by the lake and cooked hot dogs over a fire. The weather was gorgeous.

My dad spotted me taking a picture, and that's his imitation of a video camera--a reeeally old fashioned one!

Thankfully Jerry wasn't cooking MY hot dog

My parents (who just celebrated 40 years married!)

 After that we went inside and ate some of the pecan pie that I made. It was delicious! I told my dad I'd make him a pie every week if he would let me eat one piece and then he could eat the rest. Then we both win :)

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Did you all watch the season premier of The Biggest Loser last night? I think the show is going to go downhill very quickly with Anna as a trainer. I was SO BUMMED when they announced it during last season's finale. She annoys the heck out of me for some reason. And watching her "train" her contestants? I wasn't impressed.

I had a hard time even watching the show without spacing out--normally I love the first show of the season, but this one was kind of boring. I wanted to hear more about the contestants' stories, and see their INITIAL weigh in.

The one twist that I think is really interesting is that there will be a marathon at the end of the season on the ranch--and ALL of the contestants get to come back to run it. Whomever wins the marathon is automatically in the finals, whether they were on the ranch of not. While I think it's totally irresponsible to go from obese couch potato to running a full marathon in just 3 months, it definitely makes interesting television!

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Do you watch The Biggest Loser? What do you think of Anna Kournikova as a trainer?

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Afternoon wining

What a great afternoon!  As you know, my youngest started kindergarten this year, so I have the house to myself all day... and Renee's youngest started kindergarten this year too! So what would be the natural thing for us to do when we get together? Drink wine in the afternoon, of course! After all, we totally deserved it for the collective 21 miles we ran on the dreadmill yesterday--even if she DID one-up me!

I had bought three bottles of wine yesterday when I went to Sam's Club. I let Renee choose what one to open and she chose a Malbec. At first, I wasn't crazy about it--it tasted a little musty or something--but after a few ounces, it was smooth and yummy. Along with some great conversation, it made for a perfect afternoon!

We drank the Neu Direction Malbec

Oh, and I got a little something in the mail from Heather at Diaries of a Fat Girl. She sent me a Bondiband!! And not just ANY Bondiband. It says "one tough cookie" on it ;)

Cute, huh?!

This is my "tough" look... BWAHAHA

How thoughtful of her was that?! I can't wait to wear it on my 5.5 mile run tomorrow.

Tonight we're going to my parents house for my dad's birthday. I made a pecan pie to bring over there (his favorite, and the one thing I'm actually really good at baking!)  I feel kind of bad, because my dad is turning 60 tomorrow, and he doesn't think we're really doing anything to celebrate--but my mom planned a surprise party for him, which is on Saturday. There are going to be a lot of people there, and my dad has NO clue. My mom said that my dad only had one birthday party in his life, when he was a kid--and he spent weeks worrying that nobody was going to show up! So I hope he enjoys his party on Saturday ;)

While Renee was here, we talked a little about me possibly running a full marathon next year. I turn *gulp* 30 in January, and I think running a marathon in my 30th year would be pretty cool! But I'm terrified. Renee has run a marathon before, and she thinks I can do it. It's not that I don't think I CAN, but I'm more afraid that I'm going to get injured and never be able to run again or something.

I'm going to wait and see what happens with my possible surgery coming up (Friday will be 4 weeks since my consult--so I should hear from the insurance soon!) and then I'll decide. If I do a marathon, it'll probably be the Detroit Free Press Marathon in October. It's the only dual-country marathon in the world (I think?)--pretty awesome, right?!

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Do you think I look more "tough" or more "cookie"? I'd have to go with cookie. But I try. ;)

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Death by treadmill

So I woke up this morning at 6:15, ready to pound out 9 miles for my long run. And it looked like this outside:

I went through my options--1) Wait until later to run; 2) Run in the rain; 3) Switch days on my schedule and run 3 miles today (on the dreadmill) and 9 tomorrow outside; or 4) Run 9 miles on the dreadmill. Okay, I really didn't even consider the last option an OPTION. The most miles I've ever done on the dreadmill is 5. Possibly 6, but I really think the most is 5.

So anyway, I decided to go with option 3--run 3 on the dreadmill, and then 9 tomorrow. I drank my coffee, and Jerry got the kids ready for school. And for some reason, I thought to myself, "Katie, how AWESOME would you be if you could survive 9 miles on the dreadmill?! If you didn't die of boredom, think how great you would feel for conquering that mental barrier!"  It was kind of appealing.

Oh yes, friends. Nine miles? No problem.

Jerry put on Halloween: H20 for me to occupy my mind, and I went slow (the only thing more torturous than running 9 on the dreadmill would be running 9 on the dreadmill FAST).  I set it at 5.8 mph for the majority of the run, and then the last couple of miles I kept increasing the speed until it was at 6.8 (incline was at 1% the whole time).

Jerry took this picture of me at mile 5ish, showing how bored I was:

A true treadMILF, no?

Yes, you can tell I'm wearing cotton shorts, because it looks like I peed myself from how badly I was sweating (despite the open windows and a fan). Lucky for you, you can't see my belly--all I had on was a sports bra, but I told Jerry that I'll kill him if my belly shows up in the picture.

Look! My calories burned has a COMMA in it!!

I can't believe I managed to do it, but I FINISHED the whole 9 miles on the dreadmill. I was seriously more proud of doing this than I was of running a half-marathon! I was so proud that I sent Renee a text that said, "I just ran 9 miles ON THE TREADMILL!"  and you know what she wrote back?

"How ironic, I just ran 12 on the treadmill!"

Are you fucking kidding me?!  BWAHAHA, I laughed hard when I read that. Here I was, feeling completely AWESOME for making it through 9 miles ON A TREADMILL, and Renee was kicking out 12--probably in the same amount of time I spent doing 9.

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I had the weirdest nightmare last night. At around 11:30, I jumped out of bed screaming, and Jerry freaked out asking me what was wrong. I kept saying, "I have to get out of here" and I ran into the living room. I had looked up in the corner of my room, swearing that I saw a tape worm coming after me. After a couple of minutes, I started to realize it was a dream nightmare. And we laughed. But it was so strange! I've nightmares before, but I've never jumped out of bed from one.

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Jerry and I went to Sam's Club today while the kids were in school. I was STARVING after my long run, so we ended up stopping at Panera on the way home. Even though I felt like I could eat my own arm, I ordered chicken noodle soup, 1/2 an Asian Sesame Chicken salad, and a baguette portion. It was SO delicious. I was probably really embarrassing Jerry by the way I moaned every time I took a bite. I can't remember the last time I was that ravenous.

After I had eaten half my salad, but that's what you get... I'm not a food blogger! I'd rather eat than take pretty pictures of my food.

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Finally, the Google search of the day:

No... I'm certainly not!

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What's the farthest you've ever run (or walked) on a treadmill?

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Surprise (or not)

You would think that after taking a hiatus from my computer yesterday, that I'd be loaded with things to blog about this morning. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time lying on the couch watching Lifetime Movie Network and trying to get over this stupid cold. It's moved from my throat to my sinuses now, so I'm blowing my nose constantly.

I have managed to stick with my no-eating-after-7 challenge, and it hasn't really been hard at all. That surprises me! But I've been going to bed at about 9, so I'm certainly not hungry when I go to bed. I've been craving comfort foods galore while I've been sick. Yesterday, for dinner, I made the mother of all comfort foods (to me, anyway)--chicken noodle casserole, otherwise known as "Jerry's Chicken Casserole Surprise". Here's the story about that:

Shortly after we were married and moved into our new house, and I was pregnant, when I went to the bathroom I noticed that I had some spotting. I was really nervous and scared, because it was so early in my pregnancy. My mom had a miscarriage with her first pregnancy, so I was worried that was happening to me. It was a Sunday evening, so I couldn't go into the doctor's office. I decided to wait until Monday morning to do anything.

Knowing that I was a nervous wreck and feeling really upset, Jerry decided to try to make dinner. He'd never cooked anything in his life, so he was clueless--but instead of asking me, he got out a cookbook that my aunt had given me and he found a recipe for chicken-noodle casserole. He made it, and it turned out pretty good. I couldn't eat much, because of my nerves. Turns out everything was fine with my pregnancy (Noah is now 7!) and now that casserole is total comfort food to me, because it reminds me of that night.

I don't know why he gave it a name that would possibly be used in a school cafeteria--"Jerry's Chicken Casserole Surprise". Apparently he felt like he had to rename it because he cooked something? When I asked why the "surprise", he said, "I don't know. Don't all casseroles have the word 'surprise' in them?"

Comfort food tastes so much better when you're sick. I've been having "Screamin' Rice" for breakfast the past few days. Screamin' Rice is something that we had as kids--actually "Cream of Rice" with butter, sugar, and milk on top. For some reason, we called it Screamin' Rice, so that's what I call that combo to this day.

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I feel kind of bad that I have no pictures to post over the past couple of days. Oh wait, my kids went squirrel hunting for the first time with my dad...

Eli, my dad, and Noah

They actually shot a squirrel, too! Eli was soooo excited to go. For days, he kept asking me if it was time to go squirrel hunting yet. His teacher heard all about it, and he was counting the minutes. So of course he was thrilled when they got a squirrel. I don't know that I've ever tried squirrel meat. My dad used to hunt them and cook them when I was a kid, so I probably tried it, but I don't remember. My dad always gave me the squirrel tails after he skinned the squirrels... gross, huh?  Hahaha, I loved it. He gave Eli the tail from the squirrel they just got, and Eli is going to bring it to show-and-tell on Tuesday. His poor teacher ;)

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And I guess I will leave you with a "Google search of the day". (If I can remember, I'll post one of these on each of my entries, since the blog post I did seemed to be a hit):

Hmm, what a great question! I think a better question is, why are you wearing long pink shorts?

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What is your mother-of-all-comfort-foods? Is there a story behind it? Share, please!

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RECIPE: Indian Lentil Soup

Dede, a reader of Runs for Cookies, e-mailed this recipe to me when she learned I like lentils. She said she got it from the newspaper years ago and made a couple of changes. And then, because I can never leave a recipe alone, I made a change or two myself. ;)  I've been eating it every day for lunch, because it is delicious!

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Indian Lentil Soup

2 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of red lentils
4 cups of broth (I used chicken broth)
1 (15 oz) can of crushed tomatoes
1 medium potato (about 6 oz), peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. turmeric
dash (1/8 tsp) of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a soup pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Cook the onion in the oil for a few minutes, and then add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the broth, lentils, tomatoes, and spices, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially-cover it with a lid, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the carrots and potato, and simmer, covered, until veggies are just tender, about 20 minutes.  Makes 4 servings, about 1-2/3 cups each.

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Evening snacking

Ever since I can remember, evening snacking has been a problem for me. I like the feeling of getting cozy on the couch in front of the TV after the kids are in bed, and snacking--usually something sweet. Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with eating in the evening--I did it throughout my entire weight loss, and had no problems losing weight that way.

I was reading through my old blog yesterday, and came across an entry I wrote in 2007 after an experiment I had done. For 30 days, I didn't eat after 7:00 pm. I initially did the experiment to see if I would lose more weight that way, even when consuming the same number of calories as when I ate at night. In the end, the weight loss was pretty much the same. But I learned a lot about myself in those 30 days. Here are the results (copied from my old entry):

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1) Knowing that I had to get in all my points before 7 PM changed my food-mindset. Prior to the experiment, I would eat much more lightly at breakfast and lunch, so that I'd have a lot of food for dinner and then snacks at night. I went hungry though out the day often because I was "saving" points for later. If you're a compulsive/binge eater, you know that hunger can set you up for bingeing! So while doing the experiment, I knew that I had to eat all my points before 7 PM, and therefore, I ate a higher point breakfast and lunch, and almost the rest of my points at dinner (saving a few for dessert to immediately follow dinner, rather than for TV time at night).

2) I stopped thinking about my night-time snack. During the day prior to the experiment, I was constantly thinking about what I was going to indulge in later that night after the kids went to bed (even if it was within my points range). Once I knew that I couldn't eat after 7 PM, I quit thinking about it!

3) I stopped emotional eating. This was a huge difference I noticed!! My eating at night was completely an emotional thing--I liked to curl up on the couch with my favorite TV shows on and something sweet and indulgent to eat. It made me feel cozy and comfortable. While doing the experiment, I started by switching to green tea for that same effect, but after about 2 weeks I even quit having that. I didn't feel like I needed anything at night!

4) Food lost that "good food/bad food" title. This was very weird to me, and somewhat hard to explain. I always used to think of certain foods as "good" or "bad"--ice cream was "bad" and broccoli was "good". Those are two extremes, but all foods pretty much had a label like that. Before doing the experiment, I tended to save the "bad" foods for nighttime snacking. During the experiment, I just chose to eat what I wanted, when I wanted. If I wanted ice cream, for example, instead of waiting until the kids went to bed, I would eat it after lunch. What's the big deal? It stopped feeling like a "bad" food to me, because I wasn't eating it at night.

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So, after reading that in my old entry, I was feeling inspired to try it again. Starting today, my husband and I are going to stop eating after 7:00 pm. Calorie-free beverages are allowed, but that's all. And while I'm at it, I'm going to *try* to go 30 28 days without sweets (the wedding I'm in is in 30 days, so I'll do this challenge for 28 days). I feel like I've been eating them waaaay too often lately, and I feel like I need to "reset" my taste buds/sweet acuity. I'm going to try to get creative and still have dessert every day--I'll just have to experiment with desserts that aren't sweets.


I know what you're thinking: "Really, Katie? You suck at finishing your challenges."

Totally valid point. I am notorious for starting challenges for myself and not finishing them. But if I consider how many times I attempted to lose weight vs. how many times I was successful, well... it doesn't hurt to keep trying!

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So anyways, I've been battling with a cold for about a week now, and it's driving me crazy. This morning, I felt like I was swallowing razorblades. I watched a movie, drank a few cups of tea, and then felt so guilty about skipping my scheduled easy 3-miler, that I decided to just go run. I ran really easy, and now I have two days off of running, so hopefully I'll be feeling better before Monday's long run (9 miles). 

Now, I think I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon lying on the couch (to treat this cold, of course).

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Do you find night time snacking to be a problem for you? Have you ever tried to give yourself a cut-off time?

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This is why I don't bake

I've mentioned before that I LOVE to cook, but I'm not much of a baker. I don't like to follow recipes, I don't like to measure ingredients, I like to make substitutions for ingredients, etc--all of which led to many baked goods disasters in my kitchen.

Yesterday, I created what was quite possibly the ugliest cake EVER.

It was Jerry's birthday, and I wasn't planning on making a cake until the last minute. It seems like we're ALWAYS on some sort of diet on our birthdays, so we never have birthday cakes. Well yesterday, I was thinking how sad that is, so I decided to make a cake. I found a recipe in a book for a peanut butter-chocolate cake (sounds right up my alley, no?!) and I had all the ingredients on hand.

I tried really hard to follow the directions and measurements. I baked it in a 9x13 pan, just like the recipe said. However, I tried to invert the cake onto a glass tray thing, and that's when it totally fell apart. So I put all the pieces back together onto the tray, and figured I'd just double the batch of frosting (because what's the harm in THAT?) and cover up the mistakes.

Hahaha, it didn't quite work out that way. (Oh MY! I just uploaded the pics to my computer, and almost died laughing. It looks even worse than I remember):

This is after piecing it back together (before frosting, obviously)

After putting on the peanut butter frosting

I do want to point out, however, that this cake tasted SO GOOD--totally making up for it's fugliness. Jerry laughed when he saw the cake, but when he tasted it, he was in love. The peanut butter frosting was amazing--it tasted just like the center of Mrs. Fields Peanut Butter Dream Bars (not that I know what those taste like, or anything).  And the cake was really moist.

I had a sliver large piece, and sent the rest to work with Jerry this morning (except for two pieces that I sent in the kids' lunches. I'm glad I did that, otherwise I'd be stuffing my face full of chocolate-peanut butter goodness.

The kids were so cute when Jerry came home from work last night. We had his favorite dinner ready, and Eli grabbed a beer out of the fridge for him--Noah and Eli hid behind the door, and when Jerry walked in, they yelled, "Happy birthday!" and Eli gave him the beer. Jerry said it was the best greeting ever.

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This morning, with a belly that was probably still full of cake from last night, I had to do a 45-minute tempo run. I knew it was going to be cold today, so I wore my Under Armour Cold Gear pants and a running jacket. I was still a little shocked when I stepped outside and realized just how cold it was! I was hopping up and down at the bus stop.

When the kids got on the bus, I did an easy 1-mile warm-up, then ran comfortably hard for 3 miles (my goal was about a 9:00/mi pace, but I didn't want to focus on the pace so much as feeling like it was hard, but not TOO hard). I didn't look at the Garmin until I was done:

Yesterday, someone asked me what website I use to show these screen shots--I use www.runningahead.com. You don't have to have a Garmin to use it, but I like that I can upload my Garmin info to it.

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What is the worst kitchen disaster you've ever had? I think mine has to have involved steel cut oats. For the life of me, I cannot cook steel cut oats without either burning them, boiling them over, or undercooking them. I can cook just about anything else--but steel cut oats just aren't my thing!

Steel cut oats in the microwave

Steel cut oats on the stove

I've since learned to cook them in the slow cooker. But I never think that far ahead!

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Helicopters

Today, my husband is 31 years old. WHERE DID THE YEARS GO?!  When we first started dating, he was 18. I'm having such a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I will be 30 come January. No longer in my 20's. It will be a sad, sad day for me.

Anyway, Jerry left for work at 5 this morning, when the rest of us were in bed. When the boys woke up, I told them that it's Daddy's birthday today, and the first thing Eli said was, "We should buy him some beer!!" Hahaha. Jerry is just as into beer as I am into wine. He loves trying all different beers. When I go to the grocery store, I'll pick some random six-pack hoping that he hasn't tried it before (but he always has). So Eli was right on when he said we should buy him beer.

My mom came over to walk with us to the bus stop. After the kids went to school, I went for my scheduled five-mile easy run. I didn't look at my Garmin even ONCE the entire time, which is good. On my easy runs, I've been really focusing on trying to run easy enough to be able to hold conversation (if I had someone to converse with), and when I see how slow I'm going by looking at my Garmin, I get discouraged and speed up--which defeats the purpose of an "easy run". My average heart rate was 145, which is pretty much right where it should be for an easy run. 


WOW! Just as I was writing this, I heard a loud helicopter outside. Which isn't unusual, because we live next to Lake Erie and when people go missing (fishermen, swimmers, etc) the coast guard flies around looking for them. But I stepped outside, and I seriously thought this helicopter was going to crash across the street from my house. It was going a sharp downward angle, and then flew about 15 feet off the ground. It took me a minute to realize what was going on. They were spraying something on the marsh. My dad told me that the state got a huge grant to fix it up, and they're going to kill all the weeds and crap down there and then it'll be like a man-made lake or something. Which I'm excited about!

See how low it's flying?

This is what it looks like now... they're going to kill EVERYTHING and clean it up

A couple of years ago, I heard helicopters all night, and later discovered that a bank robber was hiding out in the woods and marsh across from my house--the helicopters were looking for him. Since I live on a peninsula, there is only one way in and one way out, so there was a road block for a few days. The cops would search your car every time you drove down the road to make sure the robber wasn't in there. He ended up getting away anyways, and they found him in another state a few weeks later.

The news came out here and interviewed Jerry (while I wasn't home), but I made Jerry call the news channel later to tell them not to use his interview. In it, he had said that his "wife is scared because she's home alone at night while he's working midnights." REALLY, Jerry? Why don't you just leave the doors unlocked with a sign on it for the robber to come right in, too?

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Does your husband say stupid shit sometimes where you just want to smack him?

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RECIPE: Homemade Chocolate Muffin Tops (mock Vitatops)

One of my favorite snacks is a chocolate Vitatop with fat free Cool Whip. The Vitatops are so good, but SO expensive. So after buying a muffin top baking sheet at a garage sale, I decided to create my own Vitatops. You can find the original recipe here. I altered it to my liking.

Here is a printer friendly version!

Homemade Chocolate Vitatops

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Dash of salt

2 egg whites (or 3 Tbsp of liquid egg whites)

1/4 cup baby food prunes (you could use applesauce, but the baby food prunes are richer, sweeter, and have more fiber)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

A few chocolate chips to sprinkle on top (optional--I chose not to use them)

Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour a scant 1/4 cup of batter into a muffin-top pan (if you don't have a muffin top pan, you could probably make these in a regular muffin pan or just pour the batter into 1/4 cup mounds on a baking sheet).  Top with a sprinkle of chocolate chips, if you're using them.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let them cool. Wrap individually and freeze. When you're ready to eat one, just unwrap it and nuke it in the microwave for 20 seconds. I love these topped with Cool Whip!

I got 9 1/2 muffins by using a full 1/4 cup. You could stretch it to 10 muffins if you use just barely shy of 1/4 cup of batter.

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