Healthy Loving Weekend

Boooo, I can’t believe it’s Monday already!?! At least it’s May, right?! Warm weather is here to stay. This weekend was pretty uneventful but I needed it. I have a feeling my life is about to become super hectic so I’m happy with my 80-year-old status weekend.

Friday night I enjoyed dinner with my grandma & aunt at home… We had a SUPER yummy salad that I forgot to take pictures of. It was a “Shrimp Cobb Salad” from the new Cooking Light magazine…. SO amazing.

The dressing was very light and simple to make – You can find the recipe here if you want to have bacon, avocado and shrimp wrapped in one meal. Put any one of those in a recipe and I’m in…all 3? Hellllo perfection. Friday night I was in bed by 10:30, because I’m 80.

Saturday morning I woke up and skipped my normal bodypump/zumba classes because I was extremely sore… Instead I decided to head over to my moms house to use her bike. I rode for a good 45 minutes – It was A LOT  harder than I thought. When I got up I whipped up some healthy muffins. Again, this recipe was adapted from the new Cooking Light magazine. Great investment I’d say.

Whole Wheat Pistachio and Chai Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups of Whole Wheat flour (or all-purpose OR 1/2 AP 1/2 WW)
• 1/2 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 chai blend tea bags, opened
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (i used brummel and brown – yogurt based)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
• 1/4 cup egg whites (or 1 whole egg)
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios, chopped

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut open tea bags; add tea to flour mixture, stirring well.

• Make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and egg whites in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Add 1/2 of your pistachio mixture to batter.

• Place 12 muffin-cup liners in muffin cups; coat liners with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.

• Sprinkle nuts evenly over batter.

• Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

I decided to top half of mine with PB and I actually preferred it without… Shocker, I know – I didn’t want Peanut Butter on something? Weird.

If you want you could add 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla to make a glaze as a topping as suggested by Cooking Light.

We replaced our old fridge

With a new fridge

Some organization needs to be done but I’m loving it so far!

We seriously couldn’t ask for better weather on Saturday – I get so much more accomplished when Mr. Sun is showing his face. I’ve been loving my workouts outside so much that I’ve decided instead of using my gym membership I’m going to start sporting these…

MMhmmm. I can already picture myself now.

Ha, I hope I’m kidding.

I enjoyed some more time in the sun while watching my little cousin play lacrosse.

He loves having fans on the sidelines.

The "point" as in I see you

3 goals scored by this little munchkin.

Isn’t he cute?

My grandma, aunt and I enjoyed dinner again out at Woodfire Grill. We all had the Woodfire Salad (Spinach, Strawberries, Blackberries, Sunflower Seeds & Goat Cheese) w/ Grilled Salmon. We are quite the seafood and salad eaters lately.

I went to Tasti D-Lite afterwards by myself (fat kid move) for a little treat.

Caramel with mini chocolate chips and strawberries

Seriously, this is a small. I couldn’t finish it and I think that might be the first time that has EVER happened.

Sunday morning I got up for my spin class and my favorite spin instructor wasn’t teaching. Awesome. Instead I did 35 minutes on the Arc Trainer and did an ab routine. I headed to the mall afterwards and picked up some mothers day gifts! Surprisingly, I only purchased one thing for myself and it was necessary 🙂

Yesterday our farmers market opened! I feel like I’ve been waiting on this for MONTHS.

I picked up plenty of fresh fruit to make my new favorite lunch – Smoothie bowls!

Now I know why Julie loves these so much!

The first Smoothie Bowl is Strawberry Banana – In it goes

• 1/2 banana
• 1cup frozen strawberries
• 1 scoop of vanilla protein
• 1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
• 2 pinches xanthan gum

The second one is a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie bowl

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein
• 1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 pinches of xanthan gum

These are SO huge and SO filling… I’ve been topping them with these gerber graduates cereal puffs.

So basically if you learned anything from this post it is – I’m now an 80-year-old grandma who likes baby food… Interesting.

I’m off for a run before work. Let’s cross our fingers this week goes by FAST!

Oh and one last thing… It feels good to be an American today! I didn’t find out til this morning when I woke up, but it gave me chills 🙂

Thank you to all our soldiers for their dedication and hard work!

QUESTIONS: Have you ever had chai in muffins? What was the best thing you did/ate over the weekend?

Sunday Dinner

There is just something special about Sunday’s. It’s a day for families, but todays families are always so scattered and it seems the older we all get the busier we are. Regardless of what is going on in our lives or how “busy” we are, we always take the time to spend Sunday with Grandma.  On a typical Sunday at my Grandma’s house you will find (at least) 12 people watching whatever sport is on, various chips & dips on the table and me overloading on M&M’s before dinner is even served!

If you’ve ever met my Grandma you know what an amazing woman she is. She always leaves a lasting impression, knows exactly what to say at exactly the right time and cooks up some of the best dinners I’ve ever had. No matter what’s on the menu we know it’s going to be delicious. Some of our Sunday staples include lasagna, chicken tetrazini, stuffed chicken, stir fry, GRANDMA BREAD and let’s not forget about dessert! I truly give my Grandma credit (blame) for my obsession with sweets. When a waitress at a restaurant asks if we want to order dessert after we’ve all eaten ourselves silly she always says “Sure, we’ll have a bite!” My kind of girl…

Last night’s Sunday dinner was one of my favorites. We inahled enjoyed Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes (the best you’ll ever have), carrots, broccoli, strawberries and rolls. I almost didn’t go because I was “busy”… I had/have a lot to do for an upcoming Bridal shower this weekend and didn’t think lounging at Grandma’s for 6 hours was a good idea. My brother called and said he was going back to college in the morning and wanted to make sure I’d be there. So, off I went. I don’t need much convincing when it comes to a homecooked meal – ESPECIALLY when it gives me a break out of the kitchen.

 

Grandma with her grandchildren - I'm the only girl!

 

 

I hope we continue this tradition forever and ever. I love the family time, the memories it makes and the dessert my grandma serves 😉

Of course I forgot to take pictures of my dessert… I was overly excited that we were having brownie sundaes and there were 4 different types of ice creams to choose from. I also had to try out all 4 flavors. It was completely unnecessary.

I wont be giving out any of Grandma’s recipes today… But I did make a cookie you might be interested in!

When these are on sale for $1…you buy them.

Then, you think of some way to incorporate them into a dessert recipe…

Next, you remember how good these monster sized cookies were.

So you decide to substitute the butterfinger for the oreo.

Now you do a happy dance because you are a genius (and you’re on a sugar high)

Butterfinger Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2/3 c Butter plus 2 tbs.
• 1/2 c Sugar
• 1/2 c Dark brown sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 ts Vanilla
• 1 1/2 c Flour
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (i used ghiradelli)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (i used ghiradelli)
• Mini butterfingers

Directions

• Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl with electric mixer beat butter, sugars, egg and vanilla at med-high speed until fluffy.
• Reduce mixer speed to low, add flour, increase speed gradually and beat just until blended. Stir in white and milk chocolate chips

• Take a ice cream sized scoop and place one on each end of butterfinger

• Press sides down and seal edges so butterfinger is completely covered.
• Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart because these will be large and in charge

• Bake for 10-14 minutes. Remove from oven when browned on edges

I dare you to eat just one…Double dog dare you. Now you have to…

I clearly need some type of detoxing in my life… My stretchy pants aren’t stretching anymore.

QUESTIONS: Do you have Sunday dinners with your family?? What is your favorite dish your Grandma makes?