I know I’ve mentioned this before but recently Swanson Health Products recently offered me an opportunity to spend $25 on their online products. Swanson is a family owned company that offers health foods, natural beauty products, supplements and more all for very reasonable prices. To say that I wasn’t super excited to pick out my loot would be an understatement!

I received the shipment this past weekend and have been munching on the pumpkin clusters and cereal pretty frequently. Yum! However until last night I hadn’t gotten down and dirty with the hemp seeds or the garbanzo flour.

So what did I make? To start I used the garbanzo bean flour to make socca. When I mentioned to people that I had ordered the flour, almost everyone suggested socca so I knew I had to try it. I roughly followed this recipe but used a suggestion from fellow blogger Sierra and added rosemary to the batter.

The socca was amazing. It was crisp on the outside and doughy on the inside and I loved that I didn’t have to use a food processor to make the flour either. It was so easy to make. The rosemary really added a nice touch and my kitchen smelled like Christmas while it was baking.

I have a feeling that I’m going to be using the garbanzo bean flour a lot in the near future as I experiment with different types of socca. I’d definitely buy the flour with my own money.

I also made Angela’s Speedy Summer Hemp Power Salad with the shelled hemp seeds I received from Swanson’s. I followed the recipe for the salad but used TJs Goddess Dressing instead of the one included with the recipe. I know the Goddess Dressing has traces of wheat but considering I only have a gluten intolerance and I used so little of the dressing I should be fine.

The salad was awesome and the hemp seeds added a nice nutty taste to the dish. They also added more texture (I’m big into texture) and boosted the nutrition of the meal. Considering Swanson’s sells hemp seeds for less than half of what Whole Foods does, I can definitely see me ordering more from Swanson in the future.

After dinner last night, Ian and I made more granola (it goes quick in our apartment). We used the same recipe we always do but added raisins and pistachios this time. I had a small bowl with rice milk and chocolate chips for dessert.

This is definitely my favorite granola recipe so far!

This morning I woke up before my alarm went off (don’t you hate that?) and headed out for a 10 mile general aerobic run. The weather was perfect and all things considering my run went by pretty quickly. I haven’t been a fan of running the majority of my runs in the dark and I’m considering investing in a reflector vest. Any suggestions?

When I got home I dug into my breakfast of overnight “cottage cheese” oats. Last night I mixed 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, > 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 banana (sliced), and a handful of blueberries.This morning I stirred in granola, fig jam, and almond butter.

Perfect. To be honest, soy bugs my stomach and makes me break out. I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening but I most likely have a soy intolerance. My plan is to finish up the soy products I have now (slowly so I don’t overwhelm my system) and then keep it out of my diet. I also seem okay with Tamari so I’m going to keep that in for now.

Anyway, I’m rambling and I need to get to work. Have a wonderful Thursday!!