Feeling kinda snacky (sunday)…

I always have weird eating habits on Sunday… But not today! I’m sticking with my March Goals so far, so good!

• I went to the gym 7 times during the week…my goal was 5!
• To not overindulge on weekends and stick to my weekly routine – CHECK!
• Get more than 5 hours of sleep a night – Averaging 8!
• Set a weekly budget and stick to my list – A+.

This weekend I was able to squeeze a zumba, body pump and killer spin class in – i just love me some weekend workouts! During the week I always go after work but morning workouts always make me feel more accomplished and energized.

I made a “menu” for myself for the week that included 3 meals, a snack & dessert (can’t go without it!) each day – I jotted down my grocery list, headed to Trader Joe’s and actually stuck to it without buying one extra item! I’m so proud of myself… The best part about it? I got all of these organic goodies:

for $34… I can’t remember the last time I only spent $34 at the grocery store! I have a lot of yummy recipes for the week planned so I’m ready for Monday to start. Whoa, did I just say that? This will probably be the first and last time you hear me say those words in a sentence together.

I have some news for you…

The good news is – I’m loving the honey scented blueberry muffins i made on Friday…

The bad news is I’m eating them like I’m never going to see them again…

The good news is they are only 100 calories 🙂 But, the bad news is I’ve been dousing them in my new favorite Peanut Butter.

I just keep telling myself it’s OK it’s a protein… AND its national peanut butter month so it’s only right that I support it 😉

The good news is I made some seriously good hummus for the week to snack on.

Spinach and Artichoke Hummus! This was my first homemade hummus and it turned out ah.maze.ing. Sorry whole foods, you won’t be collecting 6.00 a container from me anymore 🙂 The bad news is, I forgot this was a weekday snack and almost finished it off by myself TODAY. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was feeling snacky!

The good news is, while I was gawking I found a recipe that caught my eye so I also made some Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars for a healthy easy treat while were on vacation.

The bad news is I just couldn’t help but drizzle chocolate all over them.

You’re right, that’s not bad news… But it would’ve been awesome news if I would’ve opened the dark chocolate bar instead of the milk! Don’t feel sorry for me… They were still delicious – they had peanut butter AND chocolate, how could they not be?

The bad news is I was still feeling snacky – so I turned it into good news and whipped up some s’mores cookies “to take to work” tomorrow. Or, at least that’s what I told myself.

I won’t tell you how many or if i even have any of these left…

But the good news is… I’m going to share all 3 recipes with you, right here, right now.

Spinach and Artichoke Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 can of artichoke hearts, quartered
• 2 Tbsp. tahini
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to make it a little more like the dip.

Directions

• Combine all ingredients in food processor until smooth.

OOO…AHHH….  Choose your dipping weapon of choice. I chose gluten-free unsalted pretzels. I enjoy them more than the Whole Wheat ones but they can get pricey – Maybe next I’ll make my own pretzels?!

Next up on Snacky Sunday:

Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
• 1/2 cup pretzels (I chose gluten-free)
• 4 bananas, mashed
• 2 cups of old-fashioned oats
• dried fruit, chocolate chips, chocolate, coconut etc (optional)

Directions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, line a 13×9 pan with parchment paper
• Mash bananas
• Add peanut butter to bananas and heat in microwave until combined
• Add oats and peanuts, mix well.
• Fold in pretzels
• Spread mixture in lined pan and bake for 20 minutes or until top is browned
• Let cool and cut into 12 squares
• Drizzle with chocolate if you love it as much as me

These remind me of a cookie mixed with a granola bar. They are also pretty big in size so its perfect for breakfast on the go!

Last but not least…

 

S’mores Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 2 chocolate bars, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine the butter and sugars until fluffy.
• Mix in egg and vanilla until combined.
• Add the flour, graham crackers, salt, and baking soda, and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

IMPORTANT STEP: Eat a spoonful of cookie dough

• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheets
• Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven.
• Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of the chocolate bar into each cookies.
• Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

The marshmallow, graham crackers and chocolate combo is really trying hard to steal the number one spot in my heart(clearly chocolate + peanut butter is #1)… I’ve got to admit, these cookies MIGHT have me switch over. If you make these, make sure you get the colored marshmallows…They’re more fun 🙂

Hi ho, Hi ho…Back to work I go. Happy Monday 🙂

QUESTIONS: What good news do you have to share? What is your favorite combination of food?

Oh, Oh, Oh…It’s Magic

Happy Friday girls (and guys)! The weekend is here, the weather is warm (50 degrees means windows down) and I’ve got lots to accomplish! My weekend should be anything but relaxing…but such is life!

This morning I wanted to test out my first Chobani so I reached in the fridge with my eyes closed and out came a Honey Flavor.

all of my pictures of shadows today…not sure why!

I knew I wanted to do something more than just eat yogurt out of the container so I went on their website and found a recipe for Honey Scented Blueberry Muffins. I changed around a few things to make them even healthier than they already were and they came out fantastic! No oil, eggs, or added sugar which is always a plus! I tallied up the stats for you, but only because it’s Friday and I’m in a good mood 🙂

Calories – Serving size 1 muffin: 104 calories, 0 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbs, 4 grams of fiber and 3.5 grams of protein

I’ve always loved muffins but after seeing the stats for them at a chain breakfast drive-thru *coughDunkinDonutscough* (470 calories, 17 g of fat, 73 grams of carbs, 38 sugars) I’ve decided that I will no longer be ordering one of those… I’m just as satisfied with my color changing muffins! OK, I’m sure you’re all hoping I shut-up now and show you my magic muffins…so here you go 🙂

Magic Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C whole-wheat pastry flour, plus 1 Tbsp flour reserved
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 6 tsp NuNaturals Stevia Fiber Baking Blend
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp iodized salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp + 2 tbsp warm water EnerG Egg Replacer
• 3 Tbsp Unsweetened Applesauce
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1 C Honey 0% Chobani Greek Yogurt
• 1 C blueberries, frozen
• 1/2 C Unsweetened Almond Milk

Directions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F. In a small bowl add Ener-G and warm water and set to side. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, Stevia, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In another bowl, whisk together egg mix, applesauce, vanilla and Chobani.

In a small bowl toss the blueberries with reserved flour until lightly coated, add to egg mixture.

are you tired of my winnie the pooh spoon yet?

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, using a spatula fold ingredients together just until dry ingredients are moistened. Be careful to not over mix the batter, as it will cause the batter to be slightly stiff and not smooth.

Purple Batter!

Violety-Gray batter?

Line muffin pans with paper muffin cups, spray lightly with non-stick spray. Fill muffin cups half way and place in oven.

BLUE batter!

Bake at 375°F for 12-20 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Green Muffins!?

Excuse the 100 year old muffin pan.

It’s a green monster muffin!

Serve with a dollop of Chobani Honey Greek Yogurt or The Bees Knees Peanut Butter.

These were so good I decided to have one for breakfast and one for dinner 🙂 I love living solo but I now have 10 blueberry muffins and 3/4 of a banana bread loaf in my freezer because I bake faster than I can eat (well really but not really). Anyone wanna come over for breakfast? 😉

Call me crazy but I wanted to try another Chobani flavor for a snack today… I grabbed the Black Cherry and did a little taste test. I used half a container of the Black Cherry Chobani and half of a homemade protein granola bar. This particular one had fruit on the bottom so I did a quick mix before scooping it into a separate bowl. 3 words – Smooth and Creamy. To be honest, I’m not even a cherry kind of girl and I really enjoyed this! I think adding the granola was kind of like having a dessert – Cherry Cobbler maybe? Healthy pie… I might be on to something here!

Lunch was a can of tuna, a green apple and a handful of raisins mixed and placed in lettuce cups. I’m finally out of bib lettuce – The container lasted me 2 weeks! Every time I make tuna at work the cat rubs against me until I share. I never knew cats were table beggers!

Gym consisted of 30 minutes on the arc trainer (SO HARD for me!?) and 10 on the stairmaster plus 10 minutes of abs when I got home. I hate doing abs at the gym because there is never enough room so I stick with my on demand videos.

Time for my favorite FRIDAY!

3 of my favorite YouTube videos I’ve seen this week… If you are looking for a good laugh definitely check these out!

Funniest video I’ve seen in a while!

The obvious… Such a joke. Yeah, I’m on a drug – It’s called CHARLIE SHEEN!

This has some dirty words so beware…

I’ll just be organizing/cleaning tonight and staring at this appliance waiting for it to magically fix itself… 😦

RIP Ice Cream Maker

Zumba and Body Pump or Spin and Body Pump tomorrow morning?? Decisions, decisions…

Questions: Do you have any good recipes that include Greek Yogurt? If so link them! What are your weekend plans?

PS: I get a lot of random searches that lead people to my blog but today I had one that said “Hot teenage girl runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere” UM WHAT!?