The Vanilla Bean Baking Blog

My goodness, what a weekend! I competed in my second figure competition this past Friday at the 2012 NPC Emerald Cup. I came in second in my class, which for me is a huge win. The girl who placed first absolutely deserved it. I still have some work to do, but considering how big this show was, I couldn’t be happier with my placing. I had such an amazing team behind me: Shannon Gill (my posing coach), Jim Wallingford (my photographer), Alex Azarian (my diet coach), Maggie Keaveny (my suit designer) Mike, who I’m sure is relieved this is all over, and of course my family! This was a tough contest preparation. Even though I started out weighing less this time around, I still ended up losing close to 20lbs by the Wednesday (115lbs) before the show, stepping on stage at 117lbs. I feel like I’ve come so far – taking two years off, from competing, after my first show was probably one of the best things I could have done to bring up my physique.

I’m ready to give it all in the gym and do another 2+ years of hard training and keep my diet in check. Ideally, I would like to stay within 10lbs of my stage weight, which is doable, so long as I keep myself accountable. Brad and Elaine Craig put on such a great show and I hope to be back at the Emerald Cup when I’m reading to qualify for Nationals. First, I need to get married to the love of my life, then I’ll take it from there

Now that my energy levels are back and I can actually think straight, my next goal is to complete my personal training certification by the end of the summer. Now that the weather is starting to shape up, I’ll take full advantage of reading out on the lawn. I’m also looking forward to devoting some time to baking. I have a few recipes that I have been meaning to post, but last time I made them, I didn’t take pictures. PLUS, I couldn’t taste what I made, so I really had no way of knowing how well everything came out. Mike was helpful, but I’m beginning to notice he doesn’t like his foods as sweet as I do so my treats might not necessarily taste-up to my standards. I basically already ate everything that I made, the week before my show, on Saturday and Sunday – cookies, candies, mock-cheesecake…all gone. I’m not ashamed. It was SO nice not having to count my calories and enjoy my food. It’s a new week now, so I’m right back to my off season diet. This time around, I’m consuming about 300 calories less, which is likely where I should be. I’ll track my progress over the next few weeks and manipulate my calorie intake as necessary to keep me on track

My skin looks awful right now. As much as I love the dark color Jan Tana imparts on my skin, it is such a pain to get off. It sure has some staying powder, but it’s flaking off more in certain areas than others, so I look like I have some type of skin disease. Go figure, it’s supposed to be in the 70′s today and I’m walking around in long sleeves. I should be back to normal by the weekend, I hope!

To give you an idea of where I started from back in January to where I am now, here are some progress pictures:

January 2012  (132lbs.)
April 2012 (117lbs.)

I decided to take a new direction with my blog. Being on another prep for a Figure Competition, I’ve been doing a lot of recipe surfing, drooling over the mountains of cookies and sky-high layers of cheesecakes in various forms. I just…can’t help it. I LOVE sugar, even more so when I’m dieting. You know how it goes - I constantly crave what I can’t have.

In conjunction with my prep, I took a few Saturdays (or Sunday, depending on how my day looked) to do a “Skipload” to jumpstart my metabolism. For those in the bodybuilding industry, you likely are not unfamiliar with the term and the type of results it can produce. The Skipload window (~6-8 hrs for me) involves eating a high carbohydrate, low fat, moderate protein diet within a certain amount of time. Calorie consumption doesn’t matter – the goal is to eat as much carbohydrates as you can without feeling sick/too stuffed to function. While this sounds amazing, I always feel horrible after I’m done and it sometimes lingers into the next day. The culprit? All of the high processed goodies loaded with sugar. That, and I just can’t say no to a WHOLE box of animal crackers or kid’s cereal. My hands and mouth just do not shut off.

This is the first time I’ve incorporated Skiploads into my contest prep. I normally followed a traditional cardio/weight intensive regime and eat 25-30% below my maintenance calories (sometimes lower) before starting Skiploads. I surprisingly feel my best when I’m dieting…why? I can’t eat any sugar or junk. Notice the trend here? My body hates sugar, but my mind and pallet love it, crave it, nonstop. I totally get my sweet tooth from my Mom Love you Mom!

Well, after that long introduction, my goal is begin crafting recipes that are stomach friendly for me:

1. Low or no sugar – (stevia and/or erythritol in small quantities)
2. No refined sugars – I’ll be sticking to brown rice syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses, and fruits, such as dates, which are naturally sweet.
3. No milk products  – this means no butter!
4. No eggs or egg products?  – We’ll see how this one goes. So far, I have not noticed much of a difference not adding eggs to cookies, but it will likely make a difference not adding to other desserts. Time to experiment!

I’m not purposely trying to veganize (is that even a word?) my baked goods, it just so happens that vegan = super stomach friendly for me. Unfortunately, I have come to really appreciate and love the taste of the organic meats I’m able to get at the Butcher near us, so I doubt I will ever be able to give up my lean cuts of steak!

Why The Vanilla Bean as my baking blog title? Vanilla is my favorite flavor, yes, more than chocolate. Vanilla beans are TO DIE FOR. They elevate the flavor in any baked good to a whole new level, therefore it’s only fitting to dedicate my blog to the little pod of goodness.

Mike has kindly volunteered to be my guinea pig and hopefully, be honest with me. He is too sweet and I think afraid to hurt my feelings at times…but the look on his face says it all if he doesn’t care for something I just pulled out of the oven. I recently made some cookies to send over to my Mom for her birthday – they might be my best creations yet and are hopefully just the beginning of what I come up with. The true test will be if my Dad likes them. He is the true cookie aficionado, there is no fooling him!

As I come up with successful recipies (whether my own or adapted from another baker), I’ll provide links to where I get the ingredients (or how to make your own) plus credit-links to the original website where I got the recipie from, if it’s not my own. Please leave feedback if you’ve tried my recipies, even if you hated them!

Mike and I area also working forwards our Personal Training Certifications, so I’ll take a few moments every so often to provide fitness related tips!

Anyway, it’s time to finish my competition season strong (I know, it’s going to be a short one this year) – Emerald Cup April 20th and Oregon Ironman May 19th! At some point, I will make it to the National stage, but I have a wedding to plan and save for. Yes, Mike and I are getting MARRIED! I always tell Mike, “If you aren’t the one person who I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with, then I don’t know who is.” It takes a special kind of man to be able to handle the Swenton women – we are not easy to deal with. Speaking of Mike, today is his birthday! With that said, Happy Birthday Mike! I have dedicated my first recipe to you…even though they are cookies for Jacoby