Welp, there goes that!

Well, obviously I only lasted a day with my "blog everyday this week" challenge, but who cares! Every day is a new day and every day brings new bits of info, learning experiences and things I want to share with the internet! ;) 

Today I want to open the door a crack into my personal world of food allergies, that I hope to expand and open as I add to my blog. It's something I feel like writing out will not only help others wanting more information on food and intolerances, but will help me with my frustrations, trial and error, experimentation, successes and more!

I discovered my intolerances to dairy and gluten about two years ago when my acne had reached an absolutely unmanageable point. I was self-concious, wore tons of makeup to hide it and didn't understand why I was plagued with these "things" all over my face. A friend of my mom's had mentioned to look into my diet and that she had been reading a lot about the connection between the two, but being 17, I didn't care. About a year after that, I made the decision to go on accutane, but suddenly started thinking about what my mom's friend had said regarding diet.I hit 'Google' and began to read every little bit of information I could. I read and read and then read some more, until I was almost sure that this was a cause of my acne. Even though I was on accutane, I cut out all gluten and dairy products anyways to see if it would make me feel any different.

IT CHANGED MY LIFE.

It's been about two years now, and I haven't looked back. I continue to learn more, experiment more and notice something new about my body every single day. It's incredible at the lifestyle change I've undergone with going G-free and dairy free. I feel better, my skin is completely clear (not just my face), my mood is much happier and I have discovered a new PASSION I have for food, food allergies and fitness. It's very motivating and I want to use my experiences and knowledge to help others (hence starting this blog!).

SO. For today, I have a yummy recipe for you all! I've started collecting pictures of my experiments, and can't wait to share with the blog world!

I think I'll start with something sweet since I seem to have a very aggressive sweet tooth that rears it's head every once in a while, so why not begin with something I love! I will get more into day-to-day diet and special recipes down the road. 

This 'dessert', if you will, is SO easy, delicious and will curb any nasty attack you have for a big old piece of cake or cookie. Enjoy! I look forward to getting this journey going with YOU all! :) Post any comments below!



PB&C Microwave Apple Bake

1 Small apple cut into slices
1-2 tbsp all natural peanut butter
1 piece of 85% cocoa dark chocolate
Cinnamon

kCal w/ 1 tbsp PB: 203   kCal w/ 2 tbsp PB: 298

Arrange your apple slices in any cool design you want in a bowl. Sprinkle cinnamon all over the slices. I drizzle the peanut butter over the slices or pour it in the middle to make a warm little dipping area. Chop or break apart your chocolate and sprinkle all over your apple slices. Pop in the microwave for 30 - 60 seconds depending on how 'baked' or mushy you want your apple. I usually do about 45 seconds so they still have a little crunch to them. 

Dig into this bowl of deliciousness with a glass of unsweetened almond milk and you'll soon be in sweet tooth heaven! I promise! :D

Time for a fresh post!

There's absolutely no excuse to be made for not keeping up with blogging, because I love to write! It's just so easy to get swept up in your world of work, friends and family, that you find it increasingly difficult to take time for yourself.

Therefore, I'm starting a blog challenge for myself.

I'm going to post a blog, even if it's a short one, every day this week. It may be about what I ate that day, a fitness tip, a new blog or website I found or some healthy tips for how to enjoy life! I hope this instills some blog discipline in me, and gets some cool information out for people to read!

SO, for today's post, I want to share my new take on "Friday Pizza Night". My family has done this for a while now because Friday's for me and now for my sister were filled with football game performances, competitions, sleepovers, etc. It was easy to order a few pizzas, make a big salad and hang out with whoever was over at the house.

Pizza is just bad news.

You can never have just ONE slice, right? (Or is that just me?) By the time you've had your two slices of pizza, a salad and a glass of soda, you've eaten half of your calories for the day. Trust me, having a salad on the side does not counteract the processed meat, cheese and dough you just indulged on.

So this past Friday I was browsing old Pinterest Pins of mine and stumbled across Bodyrock.tv's recipe for Portobello Mushroom Pizzas and became very, very excited. They looked sooo delicious in the picture and would be a great alternative to a big ole', greasy pizza! The link for the recipe is posted below, but I made a few additions for the family.

We found Applegate Farms Uncured Pepperoni at the store and sliced that up for my dad, brother and sister to make their pizzas a little more traditional. My mom and I just had ours topped with cheese (mine with vegan cheese (I prefer Go Veggie! Mozzarella and Cheddar blended together - loooove this shredded cheese) - will do a post on food allergies in the VERY near future!). I was going to toss together the traditional pizza salad, but discovered the massive amounts of carrots and zucchini still left from our garden upon opening the refrigerator. So, I sliced them up into strips, tossed with some olive oil, garlic powder, fresh parsley, salt and pepper and popped them in the oven to roast and made veggie fries! (Confession: I filled small cups with 1 tbsp of ketchup for everyone to dip - it was delicious! Just don't overdo the ketchup and you can still watch your calories and splurge on a little processed food on a Friday  night.) They were so good, and my family and I wiped out the entire pan.

So have fun with your portobello pizzas, post any additions you made to yours and let me know how it goes! The link to the recipe is posted below - the fries I made up (toss veggies with whatever and pop in the oven on 400 degrees for 30 minutes give or take)

http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/25/delicious-healthy-pizza-recipe/

(Sorry some of the pics are sideways - getting the hang of how to fix that!)

Post any comments or questions below!