Chocolate Pecan Protein Spread

this post is sponsored by Orgain. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

I could eat almond butter on a banana every morning forever and be a happy camper. And in an ideal world where sugar didn’t give me headaches I’d eat nutella every morning and be the happiest camper. However life is life and adulthood is full of foods that no longer work for your body. So here we are.

NEVER FEAR. I came up with a spread that is like 1/3 nutella 1/3 nut butter and 1/3 protein. It’s the best of all worlds.

I used Orgain Creamy Chocolate Fudge Organic Protein Powder, which is vegan(!), along with roasted pecans, coconut oil, sea salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract to make this spread. That’s right – the only sweetener is the stevia in the protein powder! So it’s both decadent tasting and powerful fuel for your body.

Spread it on bagels, toast, bananas, english muffins, oatmeal, etc. You really can’t go wrong here. Plus it stores just like nut butter! Keep it in the pantry and use it as often as you want. It’s the perfect way to start your morning.

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Chocolate Pecan Protein Spread

Course: Mornin' Eats, Spreads

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 1 jar

Author: Brewing Happiness

Bye nutella! This Chocolate Pecan Protein Spread is here and totally healthy. Made with Orgain Plant Based Protein Powder, this spread will keep you fueled!

Ingredients

• 3 cups raw pecans
• 4 scoops Orgain Creamy Chocolate Fudge Organic Protein Powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325. 

2. Lay pecans flat on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, tossing halfway. 

3. After 20 minutes, remove the pecans from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. 

4. Add the pecans, Orgain Creamy Chocolate Fudge Organic Protein Powder, sea salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and coconut oil to a blender or food processor. 

5. Blend until smooth. Scraping down the sides often, to help blend evenly. 

6. Store in an airtight container at room temperature and spread on toast, bananas, or add to your smoothies. 

7. EAT UP.

It’s here. The year is 2018, and as much as that sounds like a year from the Jetsons, it appears it’s real. This is the first year I’ll spend as a resident of New York City. This year I’ll turn 26. This year my blog will turn 5 years old (holy cow.) This year I’ve got a lot of big plans in the making. This year feels full of opportunity.

I remember not too many years ago, my idea of prepping for a new year was spending many self-loathing hours on Pinterest, searching for the perfect workout/meal/outfit/hair that would turn me into a new human. Would eating antioxidants for every meal give me a different face? Would going gluten-free make me a fitness model? Would this arms workout somehow just make my arms disappear?

I just hoped there was a new version of me secretly waiting on the inside. I simply needed to find the right Pinterest inspiration board to unleash it. Hopefully I would actually like (or maybe even love) that human. Because there was no way on this planet I could love myself as I was. I mean, had you seen the way my arms jiggled? ICK. 

I remember feeling guilty all of January 1st for the late-night fries I ate.

I remember spending all NYE sucking in to “make my dress look good” and consequently forgot to have any fun. Apparently, you have to oxygenate your brain in order to have fun. Shocker.

I remember wanting to crawl out of my own skin and attempting to use the arbitrary time of 12:00, to change my whole life.

Let’s be honest. You’ve done some version of this too. At some point you’ve joined a gym you didn’t go to. Or you started Whole30 and quit after a week.  You bought a “goals” dress and never wore it. You looked in the mirror and wished a different version of you was looking back.

But that’s not how life works, and it’s definitely not how New Year’s Resolutions work. You don’t get to become a new person overnight. You’ll never not be you.

I for one am so thankful for that. I’m so thankful that in my darkest of days I never got to trade in my body for another. I’m so thankful that I wasn’t given the option of giving up on my own humanness. I’m so thankful that my only option was to come to a reckoning with myself. I’m so thankful I wasn’t able to go around that portion of my life.

Don’t get me wrong. It was dark, and some days I thought I wouldn’t make it out. I thought I might dislike myself forever. I thought I’d be trapped in my own judgmental brain forever. But the brain can adapt and new neuropathways can be formed. It just takes time. It takes time and a lot of work to turn the thought, “I hate my arms” into “I have my mother’s arms and they’re strong and good for hugging.”

There is no new year, new you. You are the same old you now and forever. You’ll have the same body a year from now, even if you workout every day and lose a lot of weight. It’s still the same body. It’s the same skin and bones and muscles as before.

So what if instead of becoming a new human, we just decided to renew ourselves? We can break out of some old habits that no longer serve us. We can work hard to create new, kinder mental patterns. We can become the selves that we deserve. We can love ourselves more. We can find the balance between holding ourselves accountable and letting ourselves off the hook.

I love that Orgain has videos like this one that highlight this notion. As a person who has recovered from disordered eating and major self-loathing, it’s an honor to get to partner with health food companies that aren’t pushing the idea of this “new you.” I’m thankful to get to develop recipes like this Chocolate Pecan Protein Spread that is basically like a healthy nutella, instead of depriving myself of everything delicious.

Health (mental and physical) should never feel like deprivation. It should never come from a place of loathing. True health is about loving yourself abundantly, so that any changes you make come from a place of deep respect and love for your body and mind. This is how you renew yourself.

And if you aren’t in the place where you can make choices out of self-love, that’s okay. It just means that your mission is to do the hard work of finding that capacity for kindness. It means your work this year is to retrain your brain – go from “new you” to renewed.

There is no way to escape yourself, and I am honestly thankful for that. I’m glad you exist. Just as you are. I’m honored to get to do life beside you. I truly mean that. xo.