Claudia's BROWNIES: Raw and Chickpea options!

Today the beautiful Claudia is back with two healthy and yummy recipes!!

 

Hi everyone!

 

It’s been a while, but I’m happy to be back around here so thanks so much Nat for letting me share some yummy recipes in your amazing blog J

 

Are you ready? Today I’ll share not just one, but two amazing brownies recipes!!! They are easy to make, delicious and 100% guilt-free!

 

 

RAW BROWNIES

 

Another blogger friend shared this recipe with me and it blew my mind. The result is a very rich and intense chocolate brownie, perfect for those days when too sweet is not sweet enough!

 

Ingredients:

 

-       1 cup of date paste

-       1 1/4 cup raw almond butter or any nut butter you like

-       1/3 cup honey, organic maple syrup or agave

-       1 1/4 cup raw cacao powder.

 

Directions:

 

Mix all the ingredients with your hands and press into a 9x9 square glass Pyrex pan. Refrigerate at least one hour, cut into squares and enjoy!

 

If you can't find date paste just make your own.: for one cup, soak 20 pitted dates in warm water until they are soft. Combine them in a food processor with a tbsp of water until they've become a thick whipped and creamy texture. Yummmm!

 

 

CHICKPEAS BROWNIES

 

These deliciousness will satisfy your chocolate cravings in a matter of seconds! I got the recipe a loooong time ago… I think from somewhere on Instagram!

 

Ingredients:

 

-       1 1/2 cup of chick peas

-       2 eggs

-       2 tablespoons of coconut oil

-       3 tablespoons of xylitol or brown sugar

-       3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

-       1/2 a bar of 85% dark chocolate

-        

Directions

 

Mix everything in a blender and then put the mix in a glass container and into the oven at 350 degrees for around 28 min. I always top them with all some nut butter, for example natural sunflower seed butter… out of this world!!

 

www.chicaloverde.com

 

Twitter-Instagram-Facebook: @chicaloverde

 

 

At Home DB Chest and Abs WORKOUT!

It's a new year! Is it time for a new you?

"It is January… the month of the typical New Years Resolutions. How many times have you committed yourself to “I am going to get fit!” or “I will loose weight and eat better!”?"

Recently, Claudia from Chicaloverde and I exchanged workout posts for the new year. She shared an AWESOME a full body, do anywhere workout (that included PICTURES!) Check it out here.

I had the honor to share with her readers an at home workout of my own! It is similar to the one I mentioned on one of my Workout Roundups.

Head on over to Claudia's blog to check out the entire post!! <3

"Below I have set up an easy, AT HOME workout that takes less than an hour to complete. All you need is a set of dumbbells and your own body! Now… try to find an excuse for this one"



What at home workouts do you enjoy?

Natalie 

30 Minutes or Less New Year WORKOUT! From Claudia

Hello Clean Eaters! Today I have another post from the WONDERFUL Claudia, over at ChicaLOVerde. 

She has a quick, efficent, do anywhere workout for you guys. It should take 30 minutes or less! 

This post also includes PICTURES!! How fancy is that? :) 

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you all had a great holiday and that you are ready to work on those New Year’s resolutions!

By the time January comes most of us have set some goals for the year, and these are usually related to our body image and health. That’s why I wanted to share with you a quick exercise routine that you could do anywhere in half an hour or less.

I know we all have busy lives, but I don’t want time to be an excuse to not exercise. So just follow these movements at least three times a week and you’ll be in your way to a newer, healthier and leaner you!

1.  Run, Jog or Power Walk for 10 minutes: in order to raise your heart rate. If it’s raining or snowing outside you can try jumping rope, doing jumping jacks or, if you live in a building, going up and down the stairs… Remember, no excuses!

2.  To tone your upper body: Do 3 series of 12 repetitions of the movements showed in the picture below. If 12 reps are too much for you, do the most you can and increase your repetitions over time. You can also put your knees on the floor when doing the push-ups to make them easier.

3.  For your lower body: do 3 series of 12-15 repetitions of squats and lunges.

4.  To finish, let’s work those abs! If you usually don’t do abs just do one set of the movements showed in the picture below. If you feel your body can give more, try to go for 3 sets for a total of 300 abs. Do each movement 25 times (#2 repeat on both sides)

Let’s get started and prepare that body for the summer!

Claudia

www.chicaloverde.com

Twitter-Instagram-Facebook: @chicaloverde  

My First Q&A

I just posted a wonderful interview with the beautiful Claudia from Chicaloverde!

She answered some questions regarding her lifestyle and fitness. She truly is an inspiration, so if you haven't read about her yet, go check it out NOW!!

In addition to me asking her questions... she asked me some too!

1. What does a day in your life look like?
2. Why do you love yoga so much to the point that you want to become a certified yoga instructor?
3. What's your favorite holiday dish and why?
4. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
5. How long ago did you start your blog and why?

To find out my answers to these questions, head over to Claudia's blog! 

If you have other questions for me, feel free to ask in the comments below, or message me on my Facebook or Twitter! 

Natalie 

All About CLAUDIA: A Healthy Living Inspiration

I introduced the wonderful Claudia, writer of the blog Chicaloverde, a few months ago. 

Since then she has guest posted other wonderful things, such as this amazing Arepas recipe!! 

I adore Claudia, not only because she is sweet, smart, and kind, but because she is SO down to earth. In a world full of "health gurus", many of which are very artificial, Claudia shines a special, wholesome light like the star she is :) She is such an inspiration for me, and I know many others too!

I asked Claudia some questions recently to find out more about her and her life, and here are her responses! 

1) What is your biggest dream (or dreams) for your life and why?

My biggest dream is to be able to help and inspire thousands of people to embrace a healthy lifestyle so they can inspire others to do the same and therefore, one person at a time, the earth will become a greener and happier place to live. 

I want to do this because, based on my personal experience, people don't live their lives to its fullest. Sometimes they think they are happy or healthy but hey haven't experience this to it maximum potential.  If we make changes and guide others to embrace a different lifestyle from what the regular American is used to, our future generations will live longer and better.

Eventually I'd like to have kids, a running/health coaching business and maybe even open a clean coffee shop where I can offer to my customers good quality foods that will nourish them from the inside out. 

2) How has your Venezuelan background influenced your healthy approach to life? How do you think your healthy lifestyle might benefit the future of other generations? 

My background has definitely influenced my habits a lot. When I moved to the U.S. I started putting tons of crap into my body because I found a complete different world from the one I've lived in the past 24 years. Also, because I started running longer distances I thought I could eat whatever I wanted and that's another reason why swedish fish, tortilla chips, creamy pastas and snicker bars became part of my daily diet.

After three years of eating junk I realized I was not happy with the way I looked and felt so I decided to go back to my roots. I grew up eating tons of organic fruits, lean meats, vegetables and whole grains and switching back did the work by itself. Now I feel better than ever and my performance as a runner has improved a lot.

Hopefully my healthy lifestyle will benefit the future of other generations by inspiring them to live a healthier life and make wiser choices when it comes to food and exercising.

3) If you could eat only one yummy food for a month, what would it be and why?

Definitely plantains! Thats my favorite food! I grew up eating them every day and now I rarely do since they are hard to find. I love their taste and I feel they are very versatile. Also, my grandfather used to say that plantains are the most complete food and that a person could live on them for a year.

4) What is your favorite form of fitness? 

Running. It gives me physical and mental freedom. When I run I have time to think about so many things and some times even great ideas come up! This sport has also given me some of the best friendships I have.

5) What does a day in your life look like?

Well, It always varies. 

I usually wake up early, have a cup of warm water with lime juice, a banana and then go out for a run or to a  yoga class. Then I come home and have a big breakfast (usually eggs with veggies and fruits).

After that I start taking my online classes or doing some sort of work like sending e-mails, writing on my blog or writing articles for other sites. 

Around 3 p.m. I start doing stuff around the house like laundry or cleaning and then my husband and I go to the grocery store to get whatever we are going to cook for dinner. We like to eat fresh so we go to the store almost every day.

When we get back it's usually around 6 p.m. so we start cooking together, we bless the food, eat it and then watch some TV or if I still have some work to do I get on that.

I go to bed around 10:30 pm but usually don't fall asleep until 11.

Thank you Claudia for your wonderful answers! I can't wait to have you post again here on Clean Eating Teen :)

Be sure to follow Claudia on all her sites! 

www.chicaloverde.com

Twitter-Instagram-Facebook: @chicaloverde  

Super AREPAS Recipe! Chicaloverde Guest Post

Here is the second guest post from the lovely Claudia at Chicaloverde! This time she has given us a wonderful recipe.

Check out her first guest here! 

Hello there!

Nat and I agreed to write for each other every month… exciting, right?

So today I wanted to share a very easy but special recipe with you. As I mentioned on my previous post I’m originally from Venezuela and one way to stay connected with my roots is, of course, though food.

One of my favorite foods from my country is AREPAS. These are similar to flat bread or corn bread minus the sweetness of it. Traditional arepas are made out of pre-cooked flour (the most popular brand is “Harina P.A.N.” and you can find it in some local grocery stores throughout the U.S.) but to make it more nutrient dense I love adding super foods to the mix.

Below is the recipe for my SUPER AREPAS. Don’t panic if you can’t find one of the ingredients, they will taste delicious no matter what.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of oats

- ½ cup Harina P.A.N., pre cooked corn flour or organic corn meal.

- 2 tbsp. chia seeds

- 2 tbsp. flax seeds

- 1 tbsp. maca powder

- 2 tbsp. hemp seeds

- 1 tbsp. unrefined coconut oil

- Water

- Sea salt

Preparation:

Soak the oats overnight in water, drain and rinse. Then mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your hands. Add water until all the ingredients are together forming a sort of dough. Add sea salt to taste.

Make balls with the palms of your hands and then press them until they are flat and round. Cook them in a skillet at medium temperature and for an extra crunch finish them in the toaster or the oven. Once your arepas are ready, cut them through the middle and stuff them with your favorite foods like eggs, turkey, avocado, tomato, black beans, shredded chicken, tuna, etc.

If you want to play around and be creative you can add other fun ingredients to the mix like beets, shredded carrots, squash or sweet potato.

Enjoy J

Claudia

www.chicaloverde.com

Twitter-Instagram-Facebook: @chicaloverde  

First ChicaLOVerde Guest Post From Claudia!

After guest posting for Claudia, she sent me her post for Clean Eating Teen and I've been beyond excited to share it here. She is such an inspirational woman, who is incredibly intelligent and beautiful. This is only her first post of many, so stay tuned to hear more from her! :) <3 

Hello there! My name is Claudia Deen. I’m a former advertising producer and I just started towards my certification to be a Health Coach. I met Nat a few weeks back in Texas and felt very excited to find out we have very similar interests! She is a beautiful young lady that can definitely inspire anyone in a heartbeat so, thanks Nat for having me as your guest!

Here is a little but about me… In March 2010 I decided to move from Venezuela to the U.S. to get my Master’s degree in Film and TV. Coming from a country where hormones and pesticides are ont added to food as much as in the U.S. moving here took a toll on my body. I started to make poor food decisions because I felt lonely, I was bored, or just to “fit in”.

I consider myself a very lucky girl since I had been blessed with great genetics and I love to stay active. In Venezuela I played tennis, basketball, I swam, I practiced yoga and I even earned a brown belt in karate!

After two months of living in the U.S. I decided to sign up for my first marathon but something not very pleasant happened. I noticed I started gaining weight… and even though people said it was “muscle weight” I knew they were wrong. I was eating everything I wanted just because I was logging 40-50 miles a week. My skin started to change, I felt I was lacking energy and I wasn’t happy with the way I looked.

The bad eating habits continued even though I was not happy with myself. It was just hard for my to get back on track (I guess I just didn’t have to motivation and determination). I’d eat 50% of my meals extremely healthy and then 50% extremely bad. One day I finally realized that I was the only one who had control over my body and that I was the only one who could make me feel good about myself. I needed to change if I wanted to improve my performance and attitude so I went back to my roots.

After 3 years of living a very unbalanced life I went back to the way I used to eat, or better! As I said, I love exercising and have always been passionate about it so I finally found my passion about nutrition as well. I’m fascinated on how everything we put into our bodies impact the way we feel, act, and think.

I try to but as many organic products as my wallet allows me; I prefer to take care of myself this way than having to deal with diseases later on. If we spend money on partying, shopping and eating out, why not spend money in buying high quality foods that nourish us? The changes I’ve experienced since I made the decision to be as healthy as I can have been incredible… and most importantly I’m comfortable on my on skin!

When I was working in advertising I noticed that every time I had a free minute I’d start reading online about nutrition and fitness. I learned so much and was so interested in all the information available that I decided to do a shift in my career. If I was able to help myself (with a lot of trial and error) I know I can help others to improve their quality of life as well.

I started my blog Chicaloverde a few months back to connect with people that have to same interests than me and to share my experience with others.

I keep living a very active life, I exercise every day (run, yoga, strength conditioning) and want to motivate and help others to CHANGE.

Bye for now!

Claudia

www.chicaloverde.com

Twitter-Instagram-Facebook: @chicaloverde  

How amazing is she? I totally agree with Claudia about the importance to invest in quality, nourishing food, and I love the fact that she makes fitness a part of her every day life. 

I'm also jealous of that awesome yoga pose in her last picture :)

I look forward to having you guest post in the future Claudia! 

Guest Post on ChicaLOVerde!!

Hey there clean eaters!!

Remember a while ago, how I met Bobby Dean and his wonderful wife Claudia at the Dallas Cooking Expo? 

Claudia and I exchanged some blog related information, and both agreed that we would love to start guest posting for each other. Her blog, ChicaLOVerde, is full of inspiration and healthy recipes. She updates her Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter often with pictures of what she is up to in her healthy life! I seriously find her AMAZING... not only is she intelligent and gorgeous, but her passion to stay fit and nourish her body is so motivational!

Check out my guest post on her blog, here. Also expect to see a guest post from her on Clean Eating Teen soon! :)

Natalie