Andes Peppermint Brownies w/ a Twist!

These were.....wait for it...

AMAZING!

Once the fudgy, gooey, minty, bliss enters your mouth you're enjoying a little slice of heaven. 

 After reading that you probably are thinking to yourself, "Man, I can't enjoy those (all though I really really want to) because fudgy, gooey, minty, bliss comes with too much guilt (approx 300 cals worth of guilt) which is not worth an extra half hour-plus at the gym."

 Well my pessimistic friend, 

I have some good news

 EAT AWAY. 

Because these amazing, friends, I mean AMAZING brownies are made with.....

 wait for it.... (Name that show)

 not oil, not butter, not eggs.....

 So what????? 

 BLACK BEANS!

 Gahhhh I know!

 "WHAT" you shout out loud.

 "YES" I say.

 Fibrous, delicious, healthy black beans. 

With the serving size of 10 *see picture below,
These brownies,without mint topping, run ~139 cals per brownie square, and 219 cals with mint topping.

I cut them  even  smaller and got ~20 brownies (108 cals with mint topping!!!!) because I was feeding a large group.

So with all that awesomeness being said: 

 Bake and be amazed.

Ingredients: 

Brownies 
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 cup cocoa powder 
1 cup granulated sugar 
1 can reduced sodium black beans (with liquid) 

Mint topping 
1/2 package of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips 

Directions:

Preheat  350 F.
Line a 7x11 baking pan with parchment paper with enough parchment hanging over the edges to grab at--helps with removal.

In a food processor, first blend 1 can of beans with liquid, sugar, and cocoa powder until a creamy dark liquid. Then pulse in flour,salt, and baking powder.

Pour batter into lined baking pan and bake for 25 min. or until knife comes out fudgy not runny. (you'll know). 

As soon as the brownies come out of the oven cut them to the size you desire. Then, evenly pour mint chips over hot brownies. As they begin to melt, take a knife or spatula and swirl around to make cool, minty designs. Then run your knife through the pre-cut slices again  to keep the brownies separate as they cool and the chocolate hardens:

Let cool for 10 min before placing in the fridge to harden chocolate more. 

To serve, let sit out for an hour or so to help cut through the harden chocolate layer--no cracks. ( I did think about per-slicing while the chocolate was still hot and that might do the trick to help prevent cracks...try it out and let me know what you think)

ENJOY!!!!

 

Eat More to Weigh Less

"Eat More To Weigh Less!"

I wish I could shout this to the world. 

I wish  I had heard those words 4 years ago

 (but then again I may not have understood them as I do now). 

I wish good and sound nutrition was broadcasted to our ears instead of the junk/fake/made-to-fail stuff we keep trying over and over. 

I started my weight loss journey 4 years ago, reached my goal a year and a half ago, and now I'm just trying to live a healthy and positive life.

It's not a cake walk--although I love that game, walk around in a circle and win a cake, GENIUS--however, it is rewarding knowing and feeling literally more alive.

Food wise, my journey began with cutting and counting those calories. I discovered that 1200 calories a day was the lowest limit prescribed to a female, so that is exactly where I set my daily intake goal. For almost 2 years I only ate 1200 calories a day.

Seriously. I worked out like crazy, mainly hours on the elliptical and running outside,

(Hey, I did run a half marathon in under 2 hours!)

 

and still only ate 1200 calories a day. I mean they said burn more than you eat so I tried, and I was starving myself.

Oh I lost weight, in fact it was on that regiment that I reached my weight loss goal (YEAH), but I didn't feel right. Sure, I looked great, but I felt weak, and ALWAYS hungry.

Now, after I reached my goal I didn't know what to do. I was getting married, moving away from my home, and there was no way I could keep this strict diet for the rest of my life; it wasn't normal or natural.

So I let go. 

I quickly gained back 10lbs which was discouraging. But, this time I had a stepping block because I knew I could reach that goal again. I mean I was just there, but I needed to find a better way to get there; a way that I could maintain for the rest of my life (well the part I can control).

So I said to myself, forget the scale. I just want to be healthy and STRONG.

And thus weight lifting came into my life.

I joined the website bodybuilding.com because first of all have you seen the pictures they post of the people that use and promote their site? Pure awesome.

Secondly, I read a lot of articles they've published about nutrition, especially woman's nutrition (Female's Fitness Bible being my favorite) and was hooked.
From there I found Jamie Eason. A world class female fitness model and trainer whose goal in life is to help educate people about nutrition--my kind of gal.

I signed up to do her 12 Week LiveFit Trainer workout and nutrition plan

 

(Click HERE to see my journey)

and in 12 weeks not only was my body changed, but so was my life.

Within the first month I couldn't believe the transformation my body was going through, best of all I was getting abs by eating more!
You know that saying that is going around "abs are made in the kitchen?" Well after my first month I knew it was true and I couldn't have been more excited.

I made it though the 3 month journey,  no easy feat let me tell you, but I learned so much about nutrition and strength training, and how when combined properly they could produce amazing life-maintaining  results.

So what did I eat?

It was hard to get started on the Livefit trainer nutrition plan because the first month called for no calorie counting, just body fueling she called it. (with exercise of course)

So ate I ate everything really, that was whole and natural  (with a few chocolate cakes in between, not going to lie) 6 times a day. 6 full meals. Not 3 meals and 3 snacks--although some meals were bigger than others-- none of them lacked in nutrients.

 Months 2 and 3 calories came back into the picture but at no loss. I would eat high days and low days just to keep my body guessing, but those calorie counts were nowhere near 1200; more like 1450 on low and 1600-1650 on high.

I would say my biggest food/fuel source was protein. I upped my protein intake dramatically, I am talking 6oz of protein 2 times a day plus protein shakes and other rich in protein foods such as greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, etc.

*check out my high protein meal ideas*

I did eat carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat bread, pita,and quinoa, but I learned the power of only eating them when I was also eating high amounts of veggies and/or protein. This stopped my glycemic index from spiking and kept my body's metabolism working harder for longer.

Now pair  this new nutrition with heavy weight lifting routines and minimal but high interval cardio sessions, and I got a  transformed body and a fat burning machine--okay, well that's what she said it was.

BUT
I truly felt that way, and by the end of the 12 weeks, I actually gained weight--of pure muscle of course-- and lost 3% of my body fat! Inches gone all around.

I was over the moon. Muscles are more toned than ever, fat is shrinking, and best of all I am NEVER hungry!

The whole plan is a  little more complicated than this, I mean, it's a life changer. But I encourage you to look into the Livefit trainer challenge and see if it's for you.

12 weeks truly isn't that long and it will honestly change your life.

The biggest thing I want you to take from this article is that food is not the enemy (thank God, says the food addict inside of me), and it can actually help you loose weight if you eat it in the right ways (all good ways in my opinion)  and maintain healthy workout regiments that doesn't only include slaving away on the the elliptical or treadmill.

GO LIFT SOME WEIGHTS!

If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to ask!

Many blessing on your journey!

LiveFit The FINAL RESULTS(week 9-12 combined)

sorry this is sooo late..... but I'm

Done.

Yup. 12 weeks. Finished.

I am so proud of myself. It was not easy, but it was fun. Honestly, this was such a life changing experience. I worked my butt, arms, and stomach off and I feel fantastic.

I feel smaller all around the numbers show success.

The last three weeks were the hardest mostly because you had to pay the most attention to your diet and push hard every day to ensure results. I had to switch things up a bit because my schedule got very crazy. It turned out that I worked out 3-4x a week (Weds-Sunday) and I managed to get the 7 days worth of exercise in by doubling up on certain days.

I slacked a bit on the cardio, I really tried to do every one, but I seriously only had about an hour a day and the weight lifting itself takes a lot of time if you are going to do it right.

I did however, learn to love HIIT--High Intense Interval Training for the cardio.

Me right after a HIIT workout. 

Sweat and all!

Sprinting 30 sec at a 2.5 incline at an 8.0 speed then 30 sec rest, repeat for 30 min.
I felt like a beast, and doubled my calorie burn in less time. Whoot!

The diet for the final phase changed dramatically. We started carb cycling. I would usually go Sunday-Tuesday low car, High carb wednesday, and the last week high carb Saturday. The interesting part was that you kept the same calorie intake for each high or low day. So I found low carb higher calorie foods for low days: such as nuts, cottage cheese, string cheese etc; and then switched to low calorie high carb foods such as oatmeal, apples, bananas, soup etc. It was fun but repetitive.


The weight lifting also switched gears. Instead of focusing on pushing yourself to high weight you lowered you weights and pushed yourself to more more reps. That was hard. You really had to concentrate on form because even though you were using less weight your were doubling or tripling the amount of time you lifted it. Ouch.

Overall, I am ecstatic with my results. I feel wonderful, my body looks fitter, and best of all I feel stronger!

My Numeric Results:

          Before:                                                       After:

• Weight                 139lbs                                                  140lb
• Body fat:            24%                                                    21%
• Chest:                   34 in                                                    35.5in
• Arms                    11.3 in                                                 12.5in
• Hips                    36.50 in                                               34in
• Waist                  33.50 in                                               31in
• Thighes                 22in                                                     22.4in
• Calves:                 15 in                                                    14.5in
• Forearms:       8 in                                                      9in
• Shoulders:          40.5 in                                                 42.4in

 

          What's next?

More weightlifting and more HIIT!
I think I'll be on the look out for  another program ( I like striving for a goal, keeps me motivated), but until then I might just use the workouts from phase 2 and 3. They are just so great and versatile. I think I'll do carb cycling often but not every week.

I hope that my journey helps you find your way through yours and know that you are not alone. It's never ending but we can all do it together! On to the next thing!

 

Wanna See my whole journey through LiveFit? 

CLICK HERE

and scroll down! 

The Sweet Potato Soup

This soup was created through the taste as you go method; 
One of the best ways to cook in my opinion.

And let me tell you this soup is unbelievably good.
No joke. I have witnesses....about 8 who ate it with me with praises to go around.

I've had the idea for a  sweet potato soup since last fall, when all the creamy potato soup recipes popped up, since sweet potatoes have more health benefits such as:

•  Vitamin A, C, B-6 and potassium, 
• High fiber 
• Lower glycemic index
• Like most vegetables, they're fat-free and relatively low in calories — one-half of a large sweet potato has just 81 calories.   (Mayo Clinic, Live Strong)

Why wait so long to make the soup, you may ask? 
Well I was waiting for an immersion blender to come into my possession, and it did thanks to by brother-in-law Franky for my birthday!
This is a kitchen tool is amazing!!! Seriously. Cream or whip anything in its own container/pot.  Genius!
If you don't have an immersion blender don't worry you can blend this via a normal blender, or food processor. 

Ingredients: 
serves 6-8
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs onion chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups veggie stock
2 1/2 cups water


Directions: 
Place vegetable stock and water into a pot and bring to boil.
Once boiling, add sweet potatoes and seasonings and Bring to a simmer
Simmer for 15-20 min. Sweet potatoes should be softer at this point.
Use your immersion blender and  begin to cream potatoes. 
It may take a few good pulses with your blender to get the creaminess going.
Once creamed let soup simmer for another 15-20 min. 

Serve warm

*if your using a blender, cook potatoes in stock for 30 min on a simmer. Then let cool for 15 min before transferring to a blender or food processor to cream. Return creamed potatoes to pot and bring back to high temp to server. 

 

ENJOY!!!!

Nutritional Information: 

6 servings

123 cal * 28 carbs * 0g fat * 3g protein* 5g fiber

 

LiveFit Phase 1 Week 4

I MADE IT! Phase 1 of 3 complete!

I am so happy and proud of myself. I made it an entire month with no-cardio, a huge feat for this cardio addict. But I feel amazing. In fact This is the best i've felt, ever!

I'll be posting my results from Phase 1 in different post since I want these posts to be focused on each particular week, just for my personal reference. But stay tuned!


How was week 4? Long.

Seriously, this week dragged on for me; workouts included.
I loved everything we were doing but I felt like it was taking more time to do a set than normal.
But I again, completed every work out and will now enjoy this 2 day break before I began the next phase which includes cardio!


Weight Lifting total: 31,260lbs!!!

Impressive: I know. For this final week I upped my weight sets by 5-10lbs  and even though I was quite sore--a feeling I have a love/hate relationship with--i felt very strong. 

Weight Lifting Tip: Unsure when to up your weight? 

Here is a simple guideline; If you can complete one set of 12 with ease and in perfect form it's time to up your weights. If you do up your weights say from a 15 to a 20, and you are half way through the rep with the 20lb but can no longer complete the rep in proper form, switch back to the lower 15lb weight and finish the rep. It will take your body time to build the strength to hold the 20 for the entire rep but you also don't want to over work your body and hurt yourself. Remember form is everything!

Food wise I felt like I was all over the place. I didn't have a food prep day so I was always running around trying to figure out what to have to equal 6oz of meat. 
I ate 2 meals of Tuna , cooked 4 chickens breasts (for 2 meals) , and cooked some ground turkey which made it into one meal and I have yet to comsume the other. 

Some things I made: Tuna cakes, Tuna sandwich, Chicken salad with rice cakes, Fiesta Chicken salad, Ground turkey with brown rice and broccoli. 

I still have a healthy shake for breakfast, usually a hard boiled egg and a homemade protein bar for snack, lunch, veggies with either hummus or cottage cheese for snack, dinner, and some high protein dessert: protein cake, chocolate protein shake, greek yogurt with cinnamon, vanilla, and banana. Yummy!

Food Tip: Meal prep! 

It's hard, I'm not going to lie, especiallly if you are not a single person becuae I am also trying to figure out what I can make that my husband might want too! But it is key. If any thing get those snack prepped for the week. I hard boil my eggs, make my protein bars, and prep my veggies on Sundays so that during the week I can just grab them and go. 

I am sooo excited, and a littler nervous to start Phase 2. There are some changes in the diet and as mentioned before, in the workout out--cardio! 

I'm looking forward to posting my End of Phase 1 Results. Coming soon! 

LiveFit Phase1 Wk2

 

 

 

Week 2 done. 

Feeling awesome. 

Not going to lie, tired!

I literally had to take a power nap in the gym parking before going in... yes, I did that.

This week Jamie Eason's program has you work out 4 days and rest 3. She has them set up on a calendar to be back to back with 3 rest days but I found I like taking one of the three rest days during the week. 
This week I worked out Monday-Wednesday, Rested Thursday, Worked-out Friday, and  now off for 2 days. 
Perfect for me because we have a snow storm coming in just for the weekend so I can enjoy being off and not worrying about getting to the gym!


So what's happened so far to my body? 
I can eat lots of protein and not feel sick, I feel stronger--I upped my weights in a few areas, but most of all my stomach is tighter!


I have a soft tummy, not going to lie, but man this week I noticed it was pulling in and lookin' good.


Week weight lifting total: 28,398lbs!!!!
378 more than last week . yes. 

Weight lifting advice:  

• Form is everything. Take the time to learn the correct form and body posture to maximize your results. 
• Bodybuilding.com has a video for pretty much every workout out there. Educate yourself.

As for food this week: I've created some amazing, high protein salads!

I am working on post dedicated to my high protein creations that will include their ingredients so you can enjoy them as well. Keep posted!

For now, here is some food advice:

•  Find protein in other things besides meat: black beans, chickpeas, avocados, quinoa, greek yogurt, and cottage cheese just to name a few of my favorites; Have fun and be creative.

These will keep you full and add variety to your meals.

If you would like to read more about the LiveFit 12 Week challenge and my previous week  results

click here!

See you next week!

 

Zucchini Blondies

"Blondies" are lighten-up brownies.

 Honestly, I prefer brownies 

because they're pretty much a gooey chocolate bar, 

but hey, 

anything that is sweet and in a "bar" form 

is fair game for my palate. 

Now these ones are like blondes who got a tan,

 because they are made with whole wheat flour. 

Plus they are healthier than the typical butter and sugar filled babes, 

I mean, 

bars,

 so take your sun-tanned "Blondie" and enjoy it in a bikini.

***Yes it is march, it's still snowing, and I am thinking about swim suit season--

Oh the life of a California girl stuck in the mid-west. (it's really not that bad, but I can dream!)***

Recipe adapted from Webicurean.com

Makes 15 bars

Ingredients: 

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 tbs coconut oil, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs water

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbs sugar

2 medium-small zucchini's, peeled and chopped

Directions: 

Preheat oven 350 F. 

Non-stick a 7x11 or 9" in pan. 

Whisk together applesauce, coconut oil, sugar, egg, vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth. 

Sift together flour, baking soda and powder, and salt together. 

Blend well together the wet mixture into dry. 

Fold zucchini into batter, it will be thick. 

Evenly pour mixture into pan and if desired, sprinkle 1-2 tbs of brown sugar on top. 

Bake for 25-30 min-or until knife comes out almost clean--you don't want to over bake it. 

Let cool for 10 min. 

Slice and serve. 

Enjoy!!!!

Nutritional Information

1 bar

120 cal  * 21 carbs * 3g fat (good fats!) * 3 g protein * 2g fiber

Skillet Tomato Beef Rotini

30 min meal are truly the best.

Using left over ingredients to create that meal, even better. 

The story goes as such: 

My husband had been asking me "what's for dinner"  for quite sometime that day and I was at a standstill. I really didn't want to cook a crazy meal.

I opened my fridge and found half a pound of ground beef, half a jar of pasta sauce,  and half an onion. I chuckled at my luck and said: spaghetti it is! But my husband had other plans. 

Noticing I was going for the spaghetti noodles, my husband hollered out, "hey what kind of past noodles do we have?" I listed the names elbow, rotini, linguini, penne, and spaghetti. He looked at me with a cute but puzzled face, so I rephrased my sentence and said, "mac and cheese noodles, swirly noodles, round noodles, thicker spaghetti noodles, and spaghetti"; he got it. 

"I want the swirly!" he said with a smile; 

and thus I give you Skillet Rotini. 

Ingredients: 
3 cups  whole wheat rotini, uncooked
1/2 lb 97% fat free ground beef*
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 jar of  pasta sauce, any type you want!( I used Prego heart healthy traditional)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp organo
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes, not rinsed --I didn't have this, but would HIGHLY suggest it!
  
 *If you can't find ground beef at that percentage  just cook your beef like normal. When fully cooked, rinse under hot water in a colander/strainer. Quick rinse skillet and place rinsed meat back in skillet, then season. You are rinsing away the accumulated grease. 

Directions: 
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 3 cups of rontini and let cook  on boil, uncovered for 10 min. when done, drain and set aside.
meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Add ground beef and chop and cook until no longer pink.  
Add onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, and the rest of spices to beef and let cook for 2-3 min, until onions start turn transparent. 
Turn heat to medium low. 
Stir in pasta sauce and mix well.
If pasta is done, add drained noodles to large skillet and and mix  very well noodles with meat mixture. 

Serve hot with some homemade french bread and a side salad!

ENJOY!!!

Nutritional Information: 
Makes ~ 5 servings (a little more than 1/2 cup each)  
251 cal * 35 carbs * 5g fat *  14g protein * 6g fiber

   

Strawberry Lemon Loaf

 

I was super surprised when my husband, just out of the blue, asked for a lemon loaf. 

The first and last time I made that for him was last September.
But hey, when they remember and ask for it, it's a huge compliment, so make it!

To turn it up a notch I added strawberries a wonderful sweet pairing for this lemon treat and also my husbands favorite fruit. 

Let's just say the love was spilling over when this loaf was done; He didn't even  wait for the frosting to harden before he had a slice.

 Winning.

It's a wonderful treat anytime of the day. 



Ingredients: 
Makes one 9×5″ loaf

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs  coconut oil
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 2 tbs vinegar and and the rest milk to  equal 1/2 cup)
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
• 1 cup strawberries, chopped

 Lemon Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbs lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Non-stick a 9x5" pan with whatever you'd like; set aside.
In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a smaller bowl mix eggs, sugar, yogurt and oil. Then mix in butter milk, and lemon juice until well combined. 
Slowly mix in wet ingredients into dry and stir till well combined. 
Chop strawberries  and then toss strawberries in a little flour (keeps them from sinking in dough)
Gently fold in strawberries, but don't over mix.

Pour batter evenly into pan and bake for 45 min or until toothpick comes out clean. (mine took about 50 min)

Take out of pan and place on a cooling rack. Now make the glaze.

Whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. 

Once loaf has cooled to touch place loaf on a plate and pour glaze over loaf. Let sit for 1 min then scoop gathered glaze on plate and re-pour over loaf. Repeat until glaze is thick and hardened on loaf.  You may refrigerate for best "hardening" results. 

ENJOY!!!

 

Super Fast French Bread

French bread pairs well with many dishes. But often times by the time we need it it's too late to run to the store and we don't have hours to spend kneading and waiting and then kneading and waiting some more.

Never fear again.

This recipe from Deals to Meals will change your life.  

It has mine. 

Thank you.

In my particular dinner scenario, I was making chili; delicious, savory chili that yearned for a crispy-edged but soft center bread; but my chili was to be done in 1 hour!
Enter, this recipe.
It's the amount of yeast that does it; Putting your dough on overdrive, in a good way.

Now, the original recipe made 2 to VERY large loafs or 3 medium-small loafs.
But I cut the recipe in half and made 1 large, beautiful loaf. However, I did have to have faith during the process....

I cut the recipe into an approximate half and just had faith that it would work out. Well  I was following the directions exactly and I came to the steamy-water oven phase and well, my dough was not "rising to the top of the bowl" so that I could "punch it down." It did grow a little, but it actually got super moist and I had to add more flour to handle it.

So after about 15 min in the steamy sauna, I decided shape the dough and let it rise. Now this was another faith moment. The original recipe states that you can place your ready-shaped dough in the oven at 170 F. to rise until it's the size you want it to be and then just turn your oven up to 375 F. WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN. to bake to perfection. My problem, I don't have a window on my oven. Just an older plain, non-see-through  oven door. But I had faith. I turned the oven to 170, placed my shaped dough inside, set the timer for 15 (no idea why, but sounded good) and once the timer went off up to 375 the temp went for 20 min.
When the time came to open the door, it was a miracle. I had a golden brown, delicious looking loaf a bread, ready to be devoured with my chili.

It's inside?  A little dense--probably because it didn't rise much so not enough air was in the dough-- but PERFECT for soaking up soup!

So now, do you need bread? Have 60 min? Go.



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup water, warmed
1 tbs yeast
1 1/2 tbs sugar
1 tbs vinegar
1/2 tbs salt
3 tsp oil (i used canola)
3-4 cups flour, measure out 3 and you may need to add more as you go.
1 egg, whisked
pot of boiling water

Directions:
Lightly spray a large baking sheet with an oil (cooking spray or misto!) and sprinkle with cornmeal, set aside.

Start a a pot of water and bring to boil.

Mix the warm water, yeast, sugar, and vinegar together and let it sit to get bubbly--about 3-5 min.

Mix salt, oil, and flour together in a medium bowl.

When yeast mixture is nice and bubbly mix with flour mixture and knead 2-5 times in bowl. Add flour as needed to fold dough.

Place kneaded dough and boiled water in a OFF oven and let rest for 10-15 min. Dough may rise, if so, punch down, and let rest.

Place dough on a floured surface and shape into a loaf. Place onto prepared baking sheet.
The loaf  may be soft and spread out but do not fear, add flour as needed and keep working.
Make large, deep slashes into the top of bread if desired (I did but they baked out, lol)
Whisk egg and spread on dough.
Preheat oven 170-175 F.
Place dough into the oven until the size you want, or for those without window ovens about 15 min, then turn oven up to 375 F. and bake for 20-25 min.

Open your oven to see a beautiful, golden, french bread. 

ENJOY!!!!

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