THUMB PRINT COOKIES

THUMB PRINT COOKIES 

With Home Made Jam and Coconut Whip Cream!

Uncooked, After the Jam is Added

Ingredients:

Before the Jam is Added

For the Macaroons

2 Cups of Coconut (unsweetened, flaked)

1.5 Cups of Almond Flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 - 3/4 Cup of Honey (depends on how sweet you like them)

2.5 TBSP Coconut oil / 2 - 3 TBSP Butter

I made Blueberry Jam

For the Chia Seed Jam

3 Cups of Frozen Berries (Raspberry, Blueberry or Blackberry)

1/4 Cup of Honey (this jam isn't very sweet)

2 Tbsp Chia Seeds

1 TBSP pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

• For the Chia Seed Jam; Put the frozen or fresh berries in a pot, add the honey and stir until liquidy with a few berries (should look like jam). Bring the pot to a simmer; after 5 minutes add the chia seeds and cook down the mixture for about 15 minutes (should thicken) - STIR FREQUENTLY TO AVOID BURNING YOUR JAM! Remove from heat, stir in your vanilla and put in the fridge to chill.

Baked till golden brown

• Preheat the oven to 275F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non stick mat. 
• In a large bowl combine all the ingredients together for the macaroon recipe. Using your electric beaters mix all the ingredients together. The dough is wet and sticky but this is normal.
• Grab a large spoonful of the dough, roll it into a ball and place it onto the lined tray. Using your thumb, make a print in the middle of the cookie. Repeat this process until the tray is full - PUT YOUR TRAY IN THE FRIDGE SO THEY FIRM UP.
• When you are ready to bake, first spoon your jam mixture into the holes in the cookies and then put them into the oven. 
• Bake at 275 for 20 minutes then rotate the pan and bake for another 20 minutes. 
• These cookies should be golden brown when fully baked and after a couple of minutes on the pan, firm enough to transfer them onto a cooling rack and then into the fridge.

Coconut Whip Cream:

Ingredients:

1 Can of coconut Cream

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

1-2 Tbsp Honey

1/4 of a vanilla pod (optional - really adds to the vanilla flavoring and color)

Directions:

CHILL YOUR MIXING BOWL IN THE FREEZER!

• Open your can of Coconut cream, drain off the liquid (keep for shakes later) and keep the cream.
• Put your cream in your chilled mixing bowl (the bowl should be freezing) and mix on 3-4 speed with your electric beaters.
• When it's whip cream texture add the vanilla, honey and vanilla seeds (in the pod, scrape them out - don't put the pod itself into the cream) and whip it again.
• Put the cream in the fridge (taste it first, you may want to add more honey or vanilla extract)

When you are ready to serve your cookies, put a cookie on the plate, pour some cream over the top (or purposefully place with a spoon) and add a dollop of jam in the center of the cream. Serve with a fork and a cup of tea or coffee! ENJOY!

I'M AT MY PRE-MARRIAGE WEIGHT!

So I wanted to update really quickly by sharing that I am down to 143.6 lbs now. I'm so excited for that because I remember stepping on the scale a week before I got married and I weighed 143 lbs at that time too. It's been an exciting journey these past 5 months of changing what we eat and watching my body change because of that choice. I have officially lost 37 pounds, I started November 2012, and all I can say is that it's so sad how before I thought I could never lose the weight and that it would take so long to get it off. I believed that because it took me 2 years to put it all on that it would take even longer to get it off. I still have another 13 pounds to lose before I'm at my goal weight but I'm telling you that if I can do this so can you! I fully believe it 100%

Another exciting thing is a VEGAN dessert I stumbled upon, made and inhaled! It was "cheesecake" made from nuts! It tastes like cheesecake and is (was) so good! I will be posting the recipe soon and one for a chocolate carmel one too.

Eating in this way doesn't have to be restricted just different. It allows you and I to learn to cook with things we've never thought to try before and to experiment and relearn to make delicious dishes and desserts that are good for our bodies.

Thank you for continuing on this journey with me, I really appreciate it!
Laura

HE DIDN'T JUST CALL YOU FAT! (This is not the article you may think it is)

Are you hearing what is being said?

Okay ladies (and any gentlemen who read this) I'm about to get really honest. If you have a boyfriend, husband or male friend in your life (father, brother etc) that you care about their opinion DO NOT set them up for failure or bait them with loaded questions. It isn't fair! 

They get tongue tied, confused, nervous and most of the time will say the wrong answer because of what you are looking to hear. It's not them most of the time, it's you, me, us! 

As I gained an extra 40+ pounds I would ask my husband "Am I fat?" He would panic, swallow and say slowly "You have gained weight but you are still attractive to me." Then I would throw at him the "Do you think I need to lose weight?!" His reply would be "I think it would be good, yes."

Now before you get upset with him or take on any offense for me, listen to what he said. "1. You have gained weight (I had), 2. You still are attractive to me (I can't argue this although I tried), 3. I want you to lose weight so we can do the things we used to."

Lets take a look at the first one. I had gained weight and was continuing to gain at that point. When I asked him if I was fat the truth was that I was (at 180 lbs) and he wasn't going to lie to me. He didn't call me fat he said I had gained weight. It was true! The truth not only hurt but it fed my insecurity and after that answer I only heard the lies I was telling myself. They included, you're fat, that makes you ugly, that means you aren't attractive anymore, that means he doesn't like you and you already don't like yourself?! What a viscous cycle.

Men can separate things, categorize them and not let the one affect the other. For women it's the opposite, everything is connected and in most cases cannot or will not be separated. So when Raymond said that I had gained weight, I could still be attractive to him even though for me it was impossible to believe because in my head weight gain meant unattractive and there wasn't any other outcome. 

Now for all the ladies out there who are plus size, in the middle or larger I'M NOT BASHING YOU! I have been raised in a house where gaining weight was the worst thing that could happen to you. It created an mentality that if I gained weight (me, Laura Oosterom) then I was unattractive. However I have been friends and am friends with many plus sized girls and women and they are so beautiful in my eyes. They're sexy and voluptuous and I can't stop telling them how pretty or beautiful they are, how lucky some man will be to marry them one day and I mean it with all my heart. But for myself personally when it came to weight gain I couldn't get past how I had been raised to think about it.

It wasn't just the weight gain! It was so much more, for myself I became lethargic, I had no energy, I was sad, depressed, didn't want to cook, clean, get off the couch, go anywhere, be seen etc. As you can read, I wasn't a very fun, interactive wife, friend, sister or daughter. I was super insecure and trying to disappear. Part of the problem was that I didn't believe I was beautiful anymore and another part was that I thought I was stuck and growing. I didn't believe I could lose weight or change my future in this aspect and it was killing me. 

The second thing my husband would say was "You are still attractive to me" and he meant it. I couldn't or wouldn't hear him but he said it and meant it. Now something that I wish he had known to do was come to me and tell me how beautiful I was, how attractive I had become or how sexy I was to him. However as a cornered man he wasn't coming near the subject. And the truth for us as a couple is that he does prefer a more athletic build which is what I was before we got married and for at least the first year after. He fell in love with my athletic self and all of the activities we did together but with the new overweight version of me all of my joy and adventurous spirit and athletics disappeared. I fully believe that if I was my joyful, spontaneous, athletic self at 180 pounds he wouldn't have cared. 

The third thing he said was that yes he did think I should lose weight. It was a hard pill to swallow but it was sage advice as well. All he knew was that when I weighed less I was happy, energetic, up for adventures and challenges. He told me that he wanted those characteristics back. "I want my happy Laura back" he would say. He thought that losing weight and spending more time with God would do that for me. He was right. 

One other thing I will mention is that my husband also doesn't want me getting too skinny. He doesn't want a stick, he isn't some sicko that is looking for a magazine add in his wife. He just wants me. Some of you will read this and say "But you are you at 180 lbs and you are you at 140 lbs." That's true and it's not. I wrote in a previous blog that I didn't feel like myself, like I had been lost somewhere along the way. The truth was that at that heavier weight I wasn't me, I wasn't able to do the things I desire as Laura Oosterom. I have my own goals and dreams because I'm me (just as you have your own which makes you, you). I couldn't be who I want to be at that weight. I love being strong and being able to run, I like to cook and clean and go after crazy wild dreams that take a lot of energy and hard work. I thrive on being as strong as the boys or being able to compete with the work ethic being put out there. At 180 lbs I can't . 

So here's my challenge to you, LISTEN, step outside the moment, look at the big picture. If someone is asking you to be who you are called to be because they love you and they want you back then don't be offended. Don't corner the ones you love with the scary questions that have no positive outcome. Don't go looking for a screaming match or to feed your insecurity and self loathing. Either LOVE who you are and stay that way fully embracing the new you or love who you are now and start to change into the person you desire to be. Lose the weight or keep it, just make sure you are being faithful to yourself and know that you are beautiful! 

But be healthy! Too much weight will give health problems that nobody needs to experience or go through.

Ps. If someone is being a bully and calling you fat that's not okay. Tell somebody who loves you and cares for you and get that situation sorted out.

MARY KAY

So I have officially started with Mary Kay as a consultant in the Lower Mainland, BC Canada area. If you are interested in a facial or trying out their product or having a party please contact me here and I will give you a call! There is a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee and I'm all about finding what works for your skin! I won't sell you anything that you don't want or that is irritating to your skin.

My own testimony is that for my teenage years all the way up until about 2 weeks ago I have always had quite oily skin with frequent break outs, not to mention large open pores. I used to be quite good at covering up my blemishes and pores with make up and by drawing a lot of attention to my eyes. I decided to try Mary Kay after a woman at my church (who has amazing skin and who I thought was 20 years younger than she really is) told me what she used and that her mom was a consultant. I went to her mom's house, tried the product, liked how it felt and bought a package deal, plus I got 2 other items for half off.

For $235 I got face wash, face cream, night and day cream, foundation, microdermabrasion and lotion. The microdermabrasion and lotion cleaned out my pores and in two days I noticed them closing. The day cream and face cream together dried out my skin and my consultant promptly gave me a different day cream to try free of charge and took the other one back. Separately the creams are fine. My skin cleared up and even during that time of the month I only got one blemish that was easily hidden.

All that to say I am very happy with my purchase, I believe I have made a great investment, so much so I became a consultant myself and will be selling Mary Kay product as my new and second job.
I'm really excited to take you all on this journey of skin care that I have now brought into my health journey as we all have skin and should be taking the best care of it that we can.

Other important factors to good skin is at least 8 hours of sleep, each minute of sleep you get before midnight is worth 4 minutes to every minute you get after midnight. Also drinking a lot of water throughout the day keeps you hydrated, healthy and happy.

I would like to say that by changing what I ate I lost a lot of weight but my skin stayed the same. By introducing Mary Kay to my skin I have noticed a visible difference that I cannot deny. It's worth checking it out and trying it, because if you are not satisfied with the results you can always return it and get your money back. Also you can exchange your product for different product free of charge if it's not perfect for your skin type the first time you purchase Mary Kay, sometimes you need a little tweaking to your product choice.

STEAK, ASPARAGUS AND CESAR SALAD - Anybody want to lose 34 pounds with me?!

Tonight for Dinner I Had...

So tonight for dinner I made and ate a large cesar salad with delicious creamy dressing (made from scratch), steak, fried onions, pan fried asparagus in butter and garlic. For dessert I ate apple slices dipped in peanut butter and for my drink I stuck to water as I had already had a glass of orange juice during the cooking process. 

I have lost a total of 34 pounds (I am down to 146 pounds as of this week) and it has been 100% to diet. In my diet I do not eat sugar, grains, starch or dairy (although I have brought cream back with my coffee - it's my only exception). Because of the weight loss I have much more energy and so for the past few weeks my husband and I have done one fun outing every Saturday whether it be a hike, snow shoeing and today was ice skating. I lasted for an hour and fifteen minutes before I decided my socks were digging too deep into my skin due to rental skates. It was so much fun!

Due to my Mary Kay skin regime I have a clear face and that has been such a bonus to my weight loss. I feel so confident, joyful, energetic and I feel... Like myself again. For a couple of years I had lost myself. I gained 40+ pounds which changed so much more than my appearance. My energy flagged, my personality altered, I was sad and depressed, lethargic and a far cry from the happy, bouncing, beautiful woman my husband told me he had married. 

I've been on this journey since November 2012 which makes it 5 months ago that I gave all my food away and never looked back. It has changed my life and the life of my husband. He has been struggling health wise lately but he has kept on his weight and the relapse has looked different. He feels hopeful which is so important!

Here is a snap shot of tonights dinner that my husband took today. 

If we can do it, so can you, I believe it.