"The Health Nut" Cookie Recipe & March 12athon

If you could design your very own Girl Scout Cookie, what would it be called and what would be in it? 

One of the 12athon challenges including creating your own Girl Scout cookie. Below is my creation. It's a healthier cookie with whole wheat flour and oats, and the only sweetener is honey. Other than butter, the other ingredients are pretty good for you. And it just occurred to me that maybe I can use almond butter instead, so I'll experiment with that next. I love the taste as is, but on my next batch I think I'll experiment with adding a bit of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Yum!

"The Health Nut" Cookie Recipe

(makes about 1 dozen large cookies)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole white wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (or more to taste) total of at least 3 different nuts (I used peanuts, almonds & walnuts)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, honey, and milk. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, baking power, and salt (and other spices you feel like adding such as cinnamon or nutmeg); stir into the honey mixture using a large spoon.
4. Mix in the nuts until evenly distributed.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned.
7. Cool for a minute on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

March 12athon Report

Boy am I glad this is over!

Ok, I may have overdone it this weekend and today. I was exhausted and felt like crap last night, so I took a sick day from work today. I slept until 7:30 am, instead of the usual 5 am, and I could tell I really needed it. I felt ok after breakfast, so I thought I would try to tackle the 12athon challenge to help me recover from yesterday. All I needed to do was cover 12 easy miles somehow, and I knew that running was out of the question so I did the "tris this" challenge which would let me cover them via 3 different sports, 6 miles of which had to be walking/running.

It was really tough. I spent 9 hours each on Friday and Saturday in RRCA running coach training, then ran my 14th half marathon yesterday, which was hot and somewhat hilly with 2 bridge crossings. I didn't PR, but that's because I was still recovering from the hard effort the previous sunday where I PRed big at HM #13. So I played it safe and took it easier yesterday, but I was still exhausted after the crazy busy weekend. Needless to say that running 12 miles today was not going to happen.  I figured my best bet was the "tri this" challenge, and I wanted to attempt the "cookie badge" since I had been saving cookies for the last week.

Summary:

• Tri This Challenge:
• 1 mile on roller blades
• 5 miles on bike
• 6 miles on foot (walked)
• Cookie Badge Challenge:
• 1 tagalong
• 4 caramel delights
• 2 (stale) shout outs
• 4 thin mint
• 1 health nut homemade cookie

Details Mile by Mile:

• mile 1: tagalong - I completed this mile in roller blades that I have not worn in years, and the rubber on the wheels started to fall apart within the first 1/4 mile. I had no other sport to attempt, so I just pressed on and hoped they would hold up. Thankfully I was only doing 1 mile. Needless to say, I can walk faster than this but 1) I had to remember how roller blade (I was never that good anyway), and 2) I was afraid to go too fast for fear they would fail and I would fall, and 3) without the rubber on the wheels they had no grip and all I could do was walk them across anything other than concrete and we had to cross a few streets that were brick or rough asphalt. I ended the mile at my trash can and promptly threw them away.
• mile 2: - caramel delight - this is my favorite cookie! this was mile 1 of the bike ride into the wind, of course
• mile 3: shout out - it was stale :-/ mile 2 on the bike
• mile 4: thin mint - 2nd favorite cookie - mile 3 on the bike and heading back home
• mile 5: caramel delight - mile 4 on bike with a tailwind
• mile 6: shout out - mile 5 on bike and back home
• mile 7: thin mint - mile 1 of walk - it was hot and the cookies were starting to melt!
• mile 8: caramel delight - mile 2 of walk - what a mess melty cookies make!
• mile 9: thin mint - mile 3 of walk. I stopped at home for a bit after mile 2 because I could not bare to walk 6 straight miles and Jason was going to do some with me. So I put the cookies in the fridge to unmelt, and then the thin mints got stuck together!
• mile 10: caramel delight - mile 4 of walk - I got Jason to do miles 9 - 10.5 with me as he had to run some errands close by. We walked to the bank and as he took care of his business there, I walked some more around the parking lot. I brought along some cookies for him and that sealed the deal. This took longer than the rest because he had to stop to take photos along the way, so I just walked circles around him until he was done.
• mile 11: thin mint - mile 5 of walk - finishing the last 1.5 miles alone and ready to be off my feet. Shins and ankles were killing me!
• mile 12: -health nut - this was my homemade girl scout cookie, which was awesome and a great reward to end the challenge. mile 6 of walk. Yay all done! :)

Photo Evidence