I realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve updated you guys on the progress of my workouts, diet, and the general happenings in the Kozak household and there’s good reason for that. We’ve recently made a cross-country move to California, I was trying to squeeze in as much family time as possible, and I was also gearing up for my baby shower ALL occurring at the end of March. I’m extremely close to my family and being hormonal as well as leaving your family behind can make for an emotional time for a pregnant lady.

Anyhow, all is well now, we’re settled in our new digs and I’m definitely getting used to my new state. We’re just south of San Francisco now and I must say…the weather is not terrible. 🙂

I’m now a happy and healthy 35 weeks into my pregnancy, continuing my exercise routines albeit they’ve definitely slowed down, and have found a new wonderful midwife here in California.

I’m also currently doing a home study Hypnobabies Course that’s teaching me self hypnosis techniques to manage pain or “pressure waves” as they’re referred to as I’m planning an intervention free birth. I’ve also been reading great books such as Birthing From Within and Guide to Childbirth which have definitely given me a whole new perspective on the wonderful things a woman’s body is capable of when she’s allowed to birth freely and naturally….so very un-American haha!

Aside from how my time has been occupied these days (nesting, reading, studying, organizing the baby’s room) I’ve been meaning to share a few recipes with you guys specifically pertaining to CAKES!

Being the health nut that I am as well as a way for me to show love to the ladies in my life, I decided to bake my own baby shower cakes. I’ve mentioned it before but we have issues of Alzheimer’s, (pre)diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and just general sugar addiction in my family. My baby shower was on a Sunday and I started the baking preparations on Wednesday! I’ll share with you how I did it and a timeline breakdown. Cakes are resilient and can easily be made days ahead of time. Don’t try to do everything the night before or you will go CRAZY! These cakes serve about 40 people. **Note-if stored in refrigerator, make sure they’re covered and/or in an air tight container to prevent drying out.

Wednesday: STRAWBERRY BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
1 lb bag of Swerve All Natural Sweetener Confectioners Style
2 sticks of softened grass fed butter
1 tsp vanilla

Preparation: I took my butter out of the refrigerator before going to bed and the next morning it was nice and soft. Take your cup of chopped strawberries and place in a food processor. Blend until a puree consistency is formed.

With a hand mixer or stand up mixer, whip the three sticks of softened butter until well combined and slowly add in the strawberry puree. Once the butter and puree are mixed in, slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar. I broke this process up into 1/4’s because the powdered sweetener will cause a cloud of sugar if dumped in too quickly! TAKE YOUR TIME.

Once all of the confectioner’s sweetener is mixed in well you can lastly add the vanilla extract.

When done mixing the frosting, I placed it in a storage container and placed it in my refrigerator. Simply allow it to fully soften (overnight) if you plan to frost a cake at a later date or you can frost immediately. This frosted a double layer 9″ cake or will do 24 cupcakes.

Thursday: ALMOND LAYER CAKE
1 1/2 Swerve Sweetener (Granulated) **you can also use regular coconut sugar or any other alternative that measures like sugar**
1 1/3 cup room temperature grass fed butter
4 cups almond flour (I bought a bag of this almond flour from Costco! *one bag is $21.99 in store*)
1 cup coconut flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
8 eggs at room temp
1 cup milk (I used Flaxmilk)
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup strawberry preserves (I bought a jar of good sugar-free (sweetened with erythritol) preserves from my local health market)

Preparation: preheat oven to 350F.

Prep 2 round 8″ or 9″ cake pans with parchment rounds and nice coating of butter.

Begin by creaming butter and sugar with hand mixer or stand mixer. Once combined and fluffy, add milk, vanilla, and almond extract at a low-speed, until it is wet and combined. Add in the eggs, a few at a time, and let it slowly mix.

Combine all dry ingredients together.

Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients until batter is formed.

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 cake pans, and bake for about 35 minutes or so. Watch carefully as nuts burn quickly.

Let them cool for a bit before loosening edges from pans and inverting onto cooling racks. These cakes are best served the day after as the flavors have had the opportunity to marry together.

Once my cakes were completely cooled, I wrapped them separately (and tightly) in plastic wrap and let them sit at room temperature until Saturday, a day before my shower. If you have room, you can also place them in your refrigerator (tightly wrapped). Once I was ready to frost (Saturday night), I liberally applied the strawberry preserves between the two layers and then went to town on the cake with the strawberry butter cream frosting and placed the cake in the refrigerator until just before the shower.

Thursday: BASIC CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:
2 sticks softened grass fed butter
3/4 cup cacao powder (I used Navita’s Naturals Cacao Powder)
1lb bag of Swerve Sweetener (Confectioner’s Style)
1/4 cup milk ( I used flax milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION: Add cocao to a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer. Whisk through to remove any lumps.

Cream together butter and cocao powder until well-combined.

Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar followed by about a tablespoon of milk. After each addition has been combined, turn mixer onto a high speed for about a minute.

Repeat until all sugar and milk have been added.

Add vanilla extract  and combine well.

If frosting appears too dry, add more milk, a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency. Again, I placed the frosting in a storage container and placed it in my refrigerator. Simply allow it to fully soften (overnight) if you plan to frost a cake at a later date or you can frost immediately. This frosted a double layer 9″ cake or will do 24 cupcakes.

Friday: DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE & CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM FILLING
For the CAKE:
2 cups almond flour
1 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup softened butter (plus more for greasing pans)
8 eggs room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preparation: Preheat your oven to 350.
Grease and line 2 8″ or 9″ round pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Combine the dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl
In a small separate bowl, whisk the eggs and add the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir to combine and add to the dry ingredients.
Beat until well combined by hand, and pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for 20-25 minutes
Again, wait until completely cooled before removing from the pans and wrapping them with plastic wrap if you’re making these cakes ahead of time. These can also be stored at room temperature or in your refrigerator.

WHIPPED FILLING:
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life mini Chocolate chips because they’re gluten and soy free)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation: Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler over simmering water.
Beat your cream until it’s fairly stiff. (Either by hand mixer or stand mixer)
Add in the melted chocolate and give it another quick whip, and scrape down the sides of the bowl so it’s mixed in well.

I stored the chocolate fluff in an old yogurt container in the refrigerator and liberally applied it in between the chocolate cake layers right before I frosted them!

My shower went off without a hitch and I simply purchased Baby’s Breath to place around the cakes for decoration.

Everybody loved the cakes and were shocked to find out they were refined sugar free! My aunt even asked me for the chocolate cake recipe for a chocolate loving friend and my mother took a huge slab of strawberry cake for dessert over the next few days. 🙂 Overall, I had an emotional yet wonderful day with the 40 best ladies in my life. I can only hope to be half the mother as all of the strong and influential women in my family!

The post Bump Update + Baby Shower Cake Recipes appeared first on HASfit - Free Full Length Workout Videos and Fitness Programs.

Alright so to speak truthfully and if you follow me on Instagram, you know I enjoy a daily almond butter (open faced) sandwich. Well last night (at 10pm) I was out of my Ezekiel bread and had nothing to spread my almond butter on, CRISIS! What I did have was 2 ripe bananas and I decided to whip up a quick batch of cookies. Because I ran out of space on my baking sheet, I took the leftover batter and made mini muffins.

Since they came out really, really good, here I am sharing the recipe with all you fit foodies. These cookies or muffins are low glycemic, sugar free, and full of nutrients.

Here is what you’ll need for your nutritious banana chocolate chip cookies:

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sprouted wheat flour (whole wheat or all purpose gluten free works as well)
1/4 cup ground flax
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life mini chips)
Pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt

WET INGREDIENTS:
2 medium sized ripe bananas
2 tbsp milk of choice
1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

PREPARATION

Preheat your oven to 350 degress.

Mix all of your dry ingredients together and set aside. In a separate bowl, mash your ripe bananas until most of the lumps are gone. *Ripe bananas are IMPORTANT as this is a sugar free recipe and all the sugar will come from the bananas.*

Next, melt the coconut oil over a double boiler or microwave and whisk into the mashed banana. Add the egg, mix in the vanilla, and lastly the milk.

Once the wet ingredients are combined, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in thirds. Try not to over mix the batter as this can lead to dense cookies! If the batter seems too dry, feel free to add in a few more splashes of milk. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.

Bake for 10-12 minutes for super moist cookies or mini muffins!

Nutrition Facts
15 Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 92
Total Fat 4g
Saturated Fat 2.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Total Carbohydrate 12g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 4g
Protein 2g

The post Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies – Healthy Cookie Recipe appeared first on HASfit - Free Full Length Workout Videos and Fitness Programs.

It’s summer time and with so many BBQs and get together’s coming up, it’s hard to avoid the dessert table. Between the ice cream, cupcakes, and cookies…dessert is everywhere! In my family it’s pretty customary to swing by a grocery store and pick up a pound cake, berries, and cool whip. It’s a simple and delicious dessert but the more aware I become of what I put in my body the less delicious it is.

Did you know that the Sara Lee All Butter Pound Cake contains High Fructose Corn Syrup? And at 300 calories per slice you also get 35g of carbs, no fiber, and 20g of sugar. It’s a nutrient desert!

Here’s the ingredient list directly from their website…just so you know:

Eggs, enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, butter (cream, salt), high fructose corn syrup, mono- and diglycerides. Contains 2% or less of each of the following: water, leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), corn starch, salt, milk protein concentrate, modified corn starch, guar gum, xanthan gum, sodium stearoyl lactylate, vanillin (artificial flavor), annatto (color), soy flour.

Sounds appetizing doesn’t it? Now while I know it’s easy to run into the store and grab it off the shelves, it’s much cleaner and definitely more nutritious if you do it yourself. Pound cake is the perfect dessert to make ahead and freeze it days before or even refrigerate it a day before party time. Best of all, we only need 7 simple ingredients.

Here’s what you’ll need for your gluten free pound cake recipe:

2 cups almond flour
3/4 cup Stevia in the Raw (measures like sugar) or Coconut Sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (you can also use butter)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used non fat so any will work)
5 eggs with 2 separated
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder

First, I laid out my oil, Greek yogurt, and eggs for about an hour to allow them to come to room temperature. When ready to begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Once that was achieved, with a hand mixer blend the stevia and coconut oil for approximately 2 minutes on medium speed.

I then added in the Greek yogurt and continued mixing for another 2 minutes. Because pound cake needs to be light and airy, this recipe calls for a lot of mixing.

Next in a separate bowl whisk together the almond flour and baking powder. Set aside.

Moving back to the mixing now add in 3 eggs ONE BY ONE and mix, mix, mix! By now, your batter may appear to have a curdled milk appearance as opposed to smooth but that’s the coconut oil. It’s ok, keep mixing! The last 2 eggs just add in the yolks and leave the egg whites in a separate bowl remembering to add the yolks one at a time. This process is the longest and you’ll be mixing for about 5-6 minutes.

Moving to the egg white bowl, mix for about 4 minutes until soft peaks are achieving.

You’ll next fold the peaks into the egg mixure…

Once you’ve folded in the egg whites you’ll now begin to add the flour into the wet mixture bowl. Add in your flour 1/4 of a time and continuing to mix throughout the process. Your batter will begin to smooth out! Lastly, add in the vanilla extract and continue mixing for 1-2 additional minutes.

Take a loaf pan and line with parchment paper and spray with a non-stick cooking spray.

and add in your batter. You’ll place it in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until it passes the tooth pick test.

When your pound cake is done it’ll be a beautiful golden brown color…

and because we used parchment paper it’ll come out of the loaf pan so easily!

The house smelled so incredibly good that I couldn’t wait to slice into this beauty and taste it! Isn’t it gorgeous?

Now here come all the pictures because I just couldn’t stop 🙂

SO PRETTY….

For my topping, I took a handful of organic blueberries and a couple of organic strawberries and dusted them with coconut sugar. When you mix it and allow it to sit, the natural juices from the fruit is released.

This homemade vanilla pound cake is lower in calories, offers wonderful healthy fats from the flour and coconut oil. It’s also low carb, low glycemic, and high in protein!! It’s totally worth the calories and is a hands down healthier choice! Make this soon and tell me what you think! 😉

Nutrition Facts
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 224
Total Fat 21 g
Saturated Fat 9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Total Carbohydrate 5 g
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Sugars 1 g
Protein 7 g

The post Healthy Pound Cake Recipe – Almond Flour Pound Cake Recipe appeared first on HASfit - Free Full Length Workout Videos and Fitness Programs.

COOKIES! Who doesn’t love cookies? I have quite a few bananas at home that are starting to brown and there is nothing more exciting to me than the ripeness of bananas because that means I can bake!

One of my favorite snacks to satisfy my sweet tooth is a piece of sprouted grain bread with a thin spread of natural peanut butter and sliced banana. I like to add a sprinkle of cinnamon right on top just to add to the flavor because I’m almost positive I have a slight addiction to this spice. So I took my favorite sandwich and made a cookie out of it!

As usual I love to use coconut sugar because it’s low on the glycemic index and is 70 to 79 percent sucrose and only three percent to nine percent each of fructose and glucose.

Here are the ingredients that you’ll need for healthy peanut butter cookie recipe:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 medium ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup softened butter (I used a vegan butter)
1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1 egg (can also use flax egg)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

As always, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First start by whisking the flour, baking powder/soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, set aside.

You’ll next take your softened butter and coconut sugar and mix together with a hand mixer until combined. To the butter/sugar mixture, you’ll then add the mashed banana, peanut butter, vanilla extract and continue mixing with the hand mixer until smooth.

You’ll then fold the dry ingredients slowly into the wet ingredients…

Until an almost sticky batter is formed…

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or liberally sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray), take about a tablespoon of batter and flatten it out on the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for approximately 10-12 minutes or until a light golden brown.

I had an after thought of placing a drop of berry jam right in the middle of the batter before placing it in the oven to make it a Peanut Butter Banana and Jelly cookies but…womp, womp!

Anyhow, allow your cookies to cool for a bit and ENJOY!

Nutrition Facts
20 Cookies
Amount Per Cookie
Calories 77.0
Total Fat 4.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.2 g
Total Carbohydrate 8.7 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 2.8 g
Protein 1.8 g

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Happy Last Saturday of February Folks! I got up bright and early today while Coach Kozak slept to get in a quick 4 mile run in my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS. Super supportive shoe that’s light and absorbs the impact well which is what my foot needs since I’m an overpronator. Anyhow, that review is for a different blog post! After my run, I went home and had a piece of my super flavorful and moist apple banana bread that I baked last night. No butter, no refined sugar, no eggs and no gluten…just pure deliciousness. This bread is also low-glycemic, full of fiber, and is VEGAN!

For this healthy banana bread recipe, here’s what you’ll need:

2 medium sized ripe bananas
1 small apple (peeled and diced) – I used a gala apple
1 cup brown rice flour
¼ cup almond flour
¼ cup ground flax meal
¼ cup coconut sugar
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of your choice
2 tbsp chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
A pinch of Himalayan pink salt

As always, first things first, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mash the two ripe bananas and mix in the 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce.

In a separate bowl, add the dry ingredients (flours, flax, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt) and whisk until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

I love cinnamon and found this to be very cinnamon-y so if you’re not as crazy about it as me, just add 1/2 a teaspoon.

Next step, combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until well combined. At this time is when I added the 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk to the batter since brown rice flour has the tendency to be a bit dry. Continue mixing until you get the consistency of a well moistened batter. It may seem a bit sticky but that’s ok!

Next, fold in the chopped apple as well as any nuts you’d like to add to the batter for crunch.

I greased a 9 inch loaf pan with coconut oil or if you don’t have coconut oil available you can use a non-stick cooking spray and evenly place your batter into the loaf pan. Pop this beauty in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes depending on your oven.

Once your bread passes the tooth pick test and comes out dry, it’s ready!

Allow your vegan banana bread to cool for about 10 minutes before attempting to remove it from the loaf pan or it could come out in pieces…no bueno!

Cut into this densely moist bread and enjoy it with tea, coffee, slather it with butter….

or even your favorite nut butter and you can also pair it with delicious yogurt for breakfast. Just make it already!

Nutrition Facts
8 Servings
Calories 158.3
Total Fat 3.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Total Carbohydrate 29.9 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Sugars 8.5 g
Protein 3.4 g

The post Delicious Apple Banana Bread! – Healthy Banana Bread Recipe – Vegan Banana Bread appeared first on HASfit - Free Full Length Workout Videos and Fitness Programs.

Did you know that February is National Heart Month sponsored by the American Heart Association. February is devoted to bringing awareness through community outreach, educational programs, and marketing initiatives.

Did you also know that heart disease is the leading killer of Americans every year and is HIGHLY preventable? By knowing your family history, current health status, and making healthy decisions about your exercise and nutrition is key to ensuring you’re keeping your ticker in tip-top shape.

I’m committed this month to bringing a variety of foods to the forefront that I hope, you begin to integrate into your diet on a daily basis. As usual I’ll include a recipe to give you a delicious example of how you can use that particular food. I want you to get healthy and get educated!

Today we are focusing on Chia Seeds and all the wonderful heart benefits! So we’ll be focusing on #9…

I use chia seeds every single day. I sprinkle them in my oatmeal and salads, on top of as well as in my smoothies, mix them into my yogurt and even add them to my cauliflower rice. These amazing seeds are great for heart health because they contain Omega-3 Fatty Acids. The essential fatty acids in chia assist in lowering total, LDL, and triglyceride cholesterol, and raise good HDL cholesterol. All great news for that heart of yours! Additionally, Chia seeds are high in both soluble and insoluble fiber, which soluble fiber has been shown to help lower cholesterol.

So let’s get to the good part….we all know you have a sweet tooth. Well if you’re anything like me you do. One of my all time favorite ways to eat this seed is to make a tasty Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding with Strawberries, just in time for Valentine’s Day **wink, wink**. This recipe yields 2 servings.

What you’ll need:

3 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup almond milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cacao powder
1-2 tbsp pure maple syrup (depending on your sweet preference)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
fresh organic strawberries

In a blender, add the almond milk, vanilla extract, and maple syrup, blend until combined. Once blended add the cacao powder and continue blending. Gently fold in the chia seeds into the mixture and begin stirring until incorporated. Stop and continue stirring the chia seeds every 30 seconds or so for the next 5 minutes to assist with the thickening of the chia. Once that’s completed, you can divide your servings into separate containers, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. When ready to serve add fresh organic strawberries for garnish and voila! A healthy chocolate pudding recipe you won’t feel guilty about eating.

Nutrition Facts
2 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 189.3
Total Fat 8.6 g
Saturated Fat 0.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 96.3 mg
Potassium 101.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 26.6 g
Dietary Fiber 9.3 g
Sugars 13.6 g
Protein 6.3 g

The post It’s Heart Health Month plus Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding Recipe! appeared first on HASfit - Free Full Length Workout Videos and Fitness Programs.