Dairy Free Chocolate Tart with Berry Compote

I have been a bit back-logged on all my shows lately, but have made a pretty substantial effort to catch-up on my Master Chef. In one of the recent episodes, a contestant made a berry compote for her cheesecake. It looked incredible. Too bad I do not like cheesecake, or this post may have been a bit different... 

What I do love, though, is chocolate. Chocolate and berries are an incredible combination. What makes this guy even better (for me, at least) is that it has no sugar and no dairy! This is a baking miracle- well, it's a baking miracle in the Ross house.

Also, the tart can be made in a regular spring form dish as a thin cake, but I have recently gotten an adorable tart dish and wanted to use that instead. This looks (and tastes) delicious, so I am happy with the choice!  

Ingredients

Servings: 8    Prep time: 20 minutes    Cook time: 30 minutes

Chocolate Tart

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  
• 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup cacao powder  
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup grape seed oil or palm shortening

Berry Compote

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 pint raspberries
• 1/2 pint blueberries
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  
• 1/2 cup honey

Recipe

Tart

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, then place 1 cup chocolate chips in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. About 30-sesconds.  Add in the almond flour, cacao powder and salt. Process again until combined. Add eggs and process until smooth, then add agave and oil. Process until well combined, but do not over process. Pulsing three to four times should be enough. Spoon the mixture into an oiled 10-inch spring form pan or 12 inch tart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted and be removed clean.

Compote

Prepare the compote on the stove while the tart is baking. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the berries have begun releasing their juices- about ten minutes. Take off heat and let cool to room temperature before spooning over the tart.

If you prefer, spoon berry compote over the cooled tart and serve with powdered sugar over top. This will take away the whole sugar-free deal, but it does look pretty :)

The original torte recipe is from Elana's Pantry and can be found here.  

The original compote recipe is from Food and Wine and can be found here.  

A list of substitutions can be found here.  

How to Gain Weight The Healthy Way

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For some, being too thin or unable to gain weight is a legitimate problem. Sure, it may turn those of us trying to lower that scale's number green with envy, but gaining weight can be just as important (and difficult) as loosing it. In fact, in the past week I have had multiple people tell me they have had life-long issues with gaining weight. Some people need to gain weight after going through an illness or surgery, for others, it is just in the genes.

Just like weight loss plans, gaining weight can be done a few different ways- some are healthy and some are not.  Sure, about 99% of people will gain weight if they eat three meals a day from McDonalds, but this is unhealthy no matter who you are or how it effects you. Eating a diet high unsaturated fats, trans fats, salts, and empty carbs is no good. Thank goodness, there are a few other ways to gain weight that are better for us and work faster too!

Quit Smoking

This is a double whammy in the health department. On average, people who quit smoking gain between five and ten pounds. A cigarette-free lifestyle will also increase energy, increase immunity, decrease illness, give a better complexion, massively reduce the risk of cancers, and increase one's lifespan. Yes, this can be an extremely difficult process, but it is one that comes with too many rewards to pass up. 

Nicotine replacement therapy is one of the most common ways for smokers to take the leap. Researchers have found that NRT will help during the first six weeks of quitting, but does not help increase long-term results. If you are looking to use e-cigarettes, you may want to do some research before purchasing your starter kit. Researchers are finding that e-cigarettes are 10% less successful that quitting smoking cold turkey. When it comes to quitting, the old school method may still reign supreme. 

If you have unsuccessfully tried to quit smoking in the past, there are a few great resources that I would recommend. First, this wikihow article may seem cheesy, but there are some great knowledge nuggets mixed in through out. Next up is cancer.org's internet database of smoking tips and related articles. Finally, this 25-step how-to created by Reader's Digest has some great tips and bits of knowledge as well.

Eat Plenty of Snacks

Snacking throughout the day is a great way to keep your body at a healthy weight level. To make sure you are doing your body proud, try to keep an even mix of simple sugars, fats, and proteins in each snack. If you are really trying to pack on the calories, drinking your snacks will be the best option out there. Protein shakes tend to have a higher amount of healthy carbs, protein, and fats than other energy drinks, juices, or meal replacement shakes. Try to snack between 2-3 times per day and have at least 1-2 of those snacks be a meal replacement shake.

Weight Train

Weight training can be great for gaining weight and loosing it. If you wish to gain weight, keeping a high calorie diet while weight training is best. Be sure to mix in some cardio with your weight training. Weight training is great, but it is not enough. Those trying to lose weight tend to schedule three days of cardio and two days of weight training in their weekly exercise repertoire. If weight gain is your goal, try flipping this on it's head. Weight training three days a week with cardio mixed in will help muscles bulk a bit faster.

Be sure to eat a post-workout snack high in protein, fats, and carbohydrates. A protein shake or energy bar would be the perfect post-workout snack! Weight training will increase your muscle size and your metabolic rate. Be sure to add in extra calories and fats to keep up with this higher metabolism.

Have a High Nutrient Diet

Eating a lot of unhealthy foods multiple times per day is one way to gain weight, but this will increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and a whole slew of other not-so-great issues. To gain weight and be healthy, eat a diet high in plant fats, lean proteins, and simple sugars. Plant fats such as those found in nuts, avocados, almonds, hummus, almond butter, and peanut butter are high in monounsaturated fats and nutrients. Eating plant based fats instead of animal based fats will give the same fat content, but does not pack in as much saturated fats. A diet high in saturated fats increases the Low Density Lipoprotien count and increases the risk of heart disease. 

Try placing chopped nuts on a salad or creating a trail mix snack. You can also use almond butter, whole wheat bread and banana for a healthy, high carb sandwich. Eating multiples of mixed food like these will also take your body longer to break down and increase nutrient retention.

Dried fruits are also great if you are trying to pack on a few pounds. Dried fruit is about 1/4 the size as it's full bodied counterparts. This means that the same one cup of dried berries or bananas will give four times the sugars, carbs, vitamins, and nutrients. It is wise to get no-sugar-added dried fruit since the fruit alone already has such a high amount of sugars. 

Don't Leave Out the Extras

If you are trying to gain weight, you are at a distinct condiment advantage. Adding on extras to your meal like ranch dressing, nuts, ketchup, olive oil, and mayonnaise can help in the weight department. Add at least one of these to every meal to increase the carb and fat density. Dressings of any kind can be used on salads, sandwiches, veggies, anything. Just be to opt out of the low-fat and fat-free options. These are rarely good for anyone and especially bad for those trying to gain weight.  

Add full fat cheeses to salads, soups, and sandwiches for an extra dose of hearty. These will increase the carb and fat count of any meal. 

What is Almond Flour?

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A lot of the baking recipes I have been using lately call for almond flour instead of wheat or bleached flour. This has led me to ask the questions, what is almond flour and why is it better? After a bit of research, it turns out, all of these recipe creators are on to something good. 

Almond flour, also known as almond meal, is higher in protein, gluten-free, part of a paleo friendly diet, low in sugars, and low in carbs. Surprisingly, almond flour is simply ground up almonds. This means that almond flour has all the same health benefits of an almond. One cup of ground almonds has 20 grams of protein (for real!), 125% the daily intake of vitamin E, and 29 grams monounsaturated fat. Almonds are also surprisingly high in calcium, magnesium, copper, potassium, and phosphorous. This is a great low-carb dessert addition since one cup of almond meal has 20 grams of carbohydrates, 11 of which are from fiber. When compared to the 87 grams of carbs from wheat flour ( 14 grams from fiber) and the 95 grams from traditional bleached bread flour, 9 grams of carbohydrates is seriously impressive.  Bread flour only has about 4 grams of fiber from that 95.

New research is also finding that a diet rich in almonds and other nuts will help reduce the risks of heart disease and cancers. This is partially due to the almonds reducing Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol. Almonds will also help to lower the glycemic index after meals.  

If you are counting calories, you should know that almond flour does have a higher calorie count, although the calories are far better than other flours, nutrition-wise. You can either purchase almond flour/meal at your local health food stores or online. If you prefer the really all-natural approach, you can use a food processor and whole, shelled almonds to create your own almond flour. Be sure to only pulse almonds until finely ground. Over processing will lead to almond butter instead of flour. Almond flour can be stored in the freezer for up to six months, or, in a sealed glass jar for three.

Since it is only blanched, ground almonds, it is better to use almond flour in recipes that do not call for kneading dough. Almond flour can be used in the same ratios as wheat flour.

Women's Health Magazine Review: Maria Menounos' Abs

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You may be able to tell from the last few ab-centric workouts that I love working my abs. It is no surprise then, that I am super excited about this ab workout. Extra's Maria Menounos and her incredible abs take center stage for the July issue of Women's Health Magazine.

Let me be the first to say that Maria has fantastic abs and her ab workout looks incredible. Like all great ab workouts, this one works more that the core alone. Maria's trainer, Harley Pasternak, created this workout to be a massive core routine that will lengthen our mid-sections by working the core, legs, and hamstrings. I think he was sent from heaven.

Pasternak recommends completing three circuits of 20 reps without breaks between exercises. For best results, he also recommends completing this workout three times per week.  

Most of the exercises are not new or abstract, they are alternate versions of those tried-and-true exercises we have all done before. This makes me extra excited since I will not be studying a magazine while trying to work my mid-section!  

The Workout

I completed this workout after a half mile warm-up run. The entire workout took 21-minutes and burned about 130 calories. This is definitely more of a body weight workout than cardio or anything else. By the end of this twenty minutes I was dripping with sweat.

The workout was great and never got boring. These exercises worked my entire body, not just the core alone. I would completely recommend purchasing this month's Women's Health Magazine; this workout is only one of the many great articles in the July issue. One of my new favorites that we will be talking about later this month is the Women's Health Fitness Star Competition. In this month's issue, each girl competing has a quick bio along with her favorite workout move. I cannot wait to review each move for efficacy and fun! So far, MC's workout seems to be my fave, but Stacie's is not far behind!