That’s Strike Two

On my way home from work I snacked on one of my free LARABAR’s. I chose the Blueberry Muffin flavor this time and decided it wasn’t my absolute favorite, but it was alright. I wish it had more of a blueberry taste. Don’t get me wrong I really haven’t met a LARABAR I didn’t like, it just wasn’t my favorite.

It did a good job of stamping out my hunger and giving me energy for….Zumba! I had plans to meet my friend Amanda at a workout studio after work. This was a class we had taken before and with an instructor we knew we enjoyed, so I knew this would be a good Zumba experience unlike the last time Betsy and I tried a class out at our gym. It still makes me giggle thinking about the moves the instructor had us doing.

Before Zumba last night.

After Zumba. Glistening with sweat, and notice my huge smile. I had FUN.

It was definitely a good one! I shook it with every last ounce of my booty. At least Zumba was a success, because dinner was a total fail.

A couple of months ago, I bought Shirataki Tofu noodles which can be used as a substitute for pasta. I bought a different variety before and made them into a Thai peanut sauce type dish. They had turned out just alright, but I said I may have to try them again in a different way.

Well, here we are. This time around I bought spinach tofu noodles. I rinsed them very well (to get the stinky smell off of them), drained them, patted them dry on a towel, and placed into a bowl. I added steamed broccoli to the noodles along with two Laughing Cow Light Swiss wedges, a dollop of non-fat Greek yogurt, a dash of onion powder and garlic powder, and salt and pepper. I microwaved for 2-3 minutes, removed and gave it a stir.

It smelled good….

But I couldn’t get past the texture of the noodles. It’s hard for me to describe the texture but they were sort of gummy like to me. I took two bites of it and decided I couldn’t do it. I sat on the couch for an hour watching an episode of Modern Family before getting up to make something else for dinner.

At this point it was about 8:30 so I wasn’t going to go hogwild and bake a lasagna or anything. I decided on a PB2 wrap with Craisins (later I added some Welch’s Grape Natural Jelly).

Good old faithful PB wraps. They never fail me. I also had two large handfuls of sugar snap peas. So, that’s a strike two on the Tofu Noodles. I don’t think I’m going to give them another shot. Can’t say I didn’t try.

I am off for the day. I am so incredibly happy it’s Friday. Happy Friday to you all!

Question: Have you ever tried tofu noodles? What did YOU think?

 

Continue Reading That’s Strike Two

Reunited with the Early Morning Run

First, a recap from yesterday….

I was at a workshop all day yesterday, and by the time dinner rolled around, I definitely felt hungry, but not super hungry. I hadn’t gotten my peanut butter fix in for the day yet and decided that sounded just perfect given my hunger status. If I don’t get PB for breakfast or lunch, why not get it at dinner?

I opted for my classic cinnamon PB2 and banana sandwich, and fresh juicy pineapple.

While I was eating my lame dinner, Dana was off in the kitchen creating a masterpiece. He cooked two eggs over easy, sautéed a handful of mushrooms, and plated his dish as such: toasted whole grain baguette on the bottom, then the mushrooms, eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, and lastly roasted tomatillo salsa.

Check it out…

I am such a proud wife! That looks phenomenal. That is restaurant quality right there. Someday when we open up a cafe, that will be on the menu, you wait and see. 🙂

After dinner we took the bear (Moose) out for a walk to soak up what was left of the beautiful day. After sitting on my hiney all day at work, it felt great to stretch the legs and fill my lungs with fresh air.

Later, we made a quick stop over at Dana’s parents to check out a light fixture and say hi, and then just so happened to “stumble upon” a self-serve frozen yogurt shop afterwards. When I say stumble upon, I mean we intentionally planned on going there and I was more than a little excited about it.

We went to Cherry Berry and I served myself Cookie Monster flavor and Cheesecake flavor, and then topped the frozen yogurt with cookie dough bits, brownie bits, Reese’s peanut butter cups, a few mini gummy bears, sprinkles, marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, and a little chocolate syrup. This baby was on point.

Oh yea…I’ve said it before but I wish I could eat this every day. I’m in trouble because we have two frozen yogurt shop’s coming to our neighborhood soon. Good thing it’s not free or else I’d be in real big trouble. It does tend to add up pretty quick as they charge you by the ounce, so that should help keep me out. Tee hee.

We got home and I pretty much crashed. An evening with a beautiful walk and amazing frozen yogurt is a great night indeed.

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Now, onto this morning.

Something happened this morning that hasn’t happened in a pretty long time. I GOT AN EARLY MORNING RUN IN (albeit inside because I’m too much of a scaredy cat to run outside in the dark by myself)! A while back I posted about all the positive’s associated with early morning workouts, and have noticed that since then, they have become few and far between.

This could be for a number of reasons:

1. Now that it’s lighter out later, I feel I have more time after work to be productive and workout.

2. It’s been darker in the morning which is completely un-motivating in terms of getting out of bed.

3. I refuse to run in the dark outside early morning or late evening so I have to face the dreadmill.

4. My early morning runs are usually not as successful as my afternoon or later morning runs (I tend to take it slower in the early am) therefore discouraging me from even attempting.

The run this morning was pretty ugly. I felt like each of my lungs weighed 50 pounds and my side was aching, but nevertheless, I finished three miles and am proud of myself. The endorphins are flowing and I am ready to face the day.

This doesn’t mean I didn’t reach for the large mug for my coffee this morning because I most definitely did….

I’ll leave you with that. Have a great Thursday!

Continue Reading Reunited with the Early Morning Run

Unconventional Dinner

I ended up making yesterday a complete “rest” day (as for workouts that is). No workout yesterday. It felt strange for a work week because I typically don’t take rest days during the week, but I have been so extremely tired lately and have really favored the sleep.

For lunch yesterday I made myself one of my favorites: peanut butter banana wrap. I prepared the PB2 with water as usual but then also added honey and cinnamon before smearing it onto a whole wheat tortilla, and topping it with small banana.

I also had an apple (recycled photo)…

Some sugar snap peas (also a recycled photo)…

And not pictured, a dark chocolate Adora disk dipped in peanut butter. I am a PB maniac. I eat it everyday.

After work, I met up with some great friends of mine for happy hour at one of their homes. She had a wonderful spread laid out of some of my favorite snacks: veggies and hummus, chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, chocolate, and of course, red wine. I didn’t snap any photos because I was caught up in conversation and tasty treats. We were even able to enjoy the beautiful weather outside on her deck. I had an amazing time and hope we can do it more often! Love you ladies. 😉

On the way home, I made an impulse decision to veer my car into the Dairy Queen drive thru. It has been a very long time since I have had a blizzard and ya know what? I wanted an ice cream treat. I picked myself up my favorite kind which is double fudge cookie dough, and got Dana a caramel delight pie blizzard.

As you can see, I am slightly excited for what’s to come.

I LOVE ICE CREAM. This tasted better than ever. Oh, how I’ve missed you soft serve. Welcome back to my life.

Dinner was a little “unconventional” tonight, but it sure was tasty. I enjoyed every second of my evening.

The rest of the night was spent organizing a couple of things in the basement (electric is being installed in the bathroom downstairs today) and relaxing with the boys.

Happy Friday the 13th! Dun dun dun…..

Continue Reading Unconventional Dinner

Healthier Reese’s Recipe, Now Hide the Sweets

Yesterday morning I woke up not feeling the slightest bit hungry. It may have been the larger than average meal I ate on Easter Sunday, but I was actually surprised I wasn’t hungry being as we ate lunch/dinner, “linner” at about 2:30, and didn’t eat much the rest of the day.

Nevertheless, I knew I needed to eat something before heading off to work, so I whipped up a classic. A heap of blackberries and raspberries, topped with Fage o% Plain Greek Yogurt, and finished off with a drizzle of honey. It was light, refreshing, and a healthy way to begin my day.

Hunger finally set in at lunch time. I had packed leftover pulled chicken mixed with celery, carrots, pickles, and mustard, a big baggie of carrots and sugar snap peas, an apple, string cheese, and a Lara bar. That held me over well until dinner time.

After work I headed to the gym. I began with 10 minutes on the elliptical, then moved to the stair master for 10 minutes, before hitting the weights. I was not in the most motivated strength training mood but knew I would feel good once I was done. I have been saying that a lot lately, huh? Anyway, I focused on legs today but really didn’t get too crazy: some leg presses, calf raises, leg curls, and that was it.

Dinner last night was not very impressive (can you tell it was a tired Monday around here). I snacked on some more sugar snap peas as I deliberated what to make for dinner, realizing that we are running low on groceries. I decided on a wrap similar to a Greek one I had made not too long ago, but this time with a few less ingredients.

Lawash Brand Whole Wheat Flatbread, hummus, feta cheese, and avocado.

Super simple, lots of great flavors, and enough to keep me satisfied for a while. Now, with such a simple dinner, how is it that I manage to injure myself, whereas I can make elaborate dishes involving copious amounts of chopping and go unscathed? I managed to get in a fight with the pairing knife while trying to twist out the pit of the avocado.

The one ingredient I needed to cut in this whole dish, and I managed to splice my finger open in the process. I got a little woozy but Dana kept me calm as I ran it under water and then put pressure on it. He bandaged me up and of course I am fine, but it did hurt and it’s always scary. Dana to the rescue. I can be a little dramatic.

After dinner I had a few million Easter treats. It was my “Fat Monday.” I decided I had one more day to enjoy a bunch of my Easter treats before I put them away in the freezer for a while. They are now zipped away in a ziploc freezer bag in the freezer, in the garage. That’s what we have to do around here to keep our sticky fingers off the candies.

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This may seem a little backwards considering I just told you I hid all of my Easter treats, but I wanted to share a delicious recipe with you all for a treat I made last Saturday.

One of my all-time favorite candies are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, however they aren’t the most figure-friendly candy. I wanted to find a healthier version of these delectable treats without sacrificing the wonderful peanut buttery flavor. I stumbled upon a recipe for healthier Reese’s eggs, I put my own spin on it, and this is what I came up with.


Healthier Reese's Eggs
Print
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup almond milk
  • 3 Tablespoons chia seeds
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ⅓ cup PB2 prepared
  • ¼ cup light maple syrup
  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In small bowl, combine milk and chia seeds and let sit for 10 minutes.
  2. After ten minutes, combine chia seed mix with remaining ingredients except the chocolate chips; mix well.
  3. Shape mixture into small eggs, and place onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
  4. Once eggs are chilled, begin melting chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds until completely melted.
  5. Roll "eggs" in the chocolate, covering them completely in the melted chocolate.
  6. Place them back onto the parchment paper. Decorate with sprinkles if desired, and return to the refrigerator. Allow chocolate to set before serving. Remove from fridge 15-20 minutes or so before serving.

 

The inside of these eggs are soft yet chewy with the perfect amount of sweetness and peanut butter flavor. The chocolate on the outside of the egg adds a semi-sweet touch that balances the bites perfectly.

Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Soul mates

They may sound a little off the wall being that they have chia seeds in them, but I’m telling you they are awesome! You don’t need a special occasion to make them either.

Give ’em a whirl!

Now, the candy and treats are all stowed away, and I refuse to fall back onto the sugar train.

Anyone eat any delicious treats this past weekend? I would love to hear from you. Sharing is caring!

Continue Reading Healthier Reese’s Recipe, Now Hide the Sweets

Keeping Sugar Intake Under Control: Mind Over Matter

Happy Good Friday to you all!

After work yesterday I headed to the gym. I rowed on the row machine for 5 minutes as a quick warmup, then headed to grab some free weights. I headed to the back to my favorite area of the gym for privacy, and plowed through the Pyramid Arm Workout. I don’t think “plowed” is necessarily the most accurate term to use though, because that makes it sound like it was a piece of cake for me when in reality, this was pretty challenging for me today. I was feeling exhausted with low energy. I always figure though, at least I’m doing something which is better than nothing.

Dinner last night came together in a pinch thanks to the help of the crock pot. At lunch break, I placed two chicken breasts in the crock pot (without any seasonings) and set the crock pot to “high” as it was already lunch time, and wasn’t going to have quite as long of a time to cook as usual. I love the crock pot because you set it, and forget it!

When I got home from the gym the chicken was cooked through in the crockpot. I removed it and placed into a round bowl, grabbed two forks and began shredding. I removed about half of the shredded chicken, covered it, and refrigerated it for use another day. This is the reason I don’t like to season the whole batch, because I like to use it in several different dishes. The other half of the chicken was for our dinner.

I mixed the chicken with KC Masterpiece Original Barbecue Sauce and placed it on top a bed of baby kale, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, red onion, cilantro and corn.

I then added reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard. I have made this combo before and I must say, I really struck gold again. This combination was fantastic! My inspiration for this combo was from a salad I had eaten at Famous Dave’s that was loaded with pulled chicken and honey mustard. NUM!

After dinner we headed out to run a couple of errands. We needed to buy another photo album for our wedding photos because we ran out of room on the first one. Is it bad that it’s been six months since our wedding and our wedding photos still aren’t all in an album yet? Meh.

After errands I plunked down in front of the computer because I needed recipe ideas. I told mom I would bring desserts and a fruit salad to Easter Sunday at their place. Yes, you read right, DESSERT. I haven’t had dessert since February 22nd, when Lent began. It has been great to get my sugar intake under control again especially after the holidays. My body does not crave sugar like it used to.

When re-introducing sweets back into my life, I am going to continue to be very mindful of my eating, and want to make sure not to fall into an over-indulging of sugar stage again.  I will need to remember to keep sweet treats, indeed a sweet treat every once and a while, not a sweet snack everyday. Knowing me and my sweet tooth this will probably mean keeping sweets out of the house for the most part, and if I really have a hankering for something , I will have to go out and buy it, which will slow me down.

I don’t want to “crave” sugary treats and I have a big vacation coming up in a few weeks which involves being in a swimsuit. I am hoping this motivates me to stay smart. My goal is to keep my sweet tooth under control, and it’s mind over matter.

Anyway, after browsing many photos and recipes, and drooling on my shirt, I think I have decided on two recipes, possibly three that I will be making.

1. Chocolate Caramel Bars or Carmelitas; something like these

2. Lemon Bars

3. Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (I haven’t for sure decided on this one yet)

I thought these all looked so good! I could waste so much time looking at recipes and food photos. I find it so fun and relaxing. I am such a foodie.

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Breakfast this morning was cinnamon flaxseed oatmeal with bananas and PB2. I added in a small amount of egg whites towards the end of the cooking process to add more protein to the dish. I decided to top it off with a little bit of maple syrup. It was muy delicioso.

Now, my computer is really starting to test my patience so I think this post needs to come to an end. I hope everyone has a beautiful Friday!

Continue Reading Keeping Sugar Intake Under Control: Mind Over Matter

Tastes as Good as it Looks

I have been seriously lacking in the photo-taking department lately. I’ll get on that.

Anyway, I found out at about 2:00 pm yesterday that it was National Peanut Butter and Jelly day. Why is it that I always find out a little too late about these awesome theme days after I have already eaten breakfast, lunch, and have dinner planned?

I did have peanut butter for breakfast, just not jelly. This is a recycled photo from a while back. Today’s was not this pretty and there was no cinnamon or chia seeds involved. I did mix honey into the PB2 today though which was a winning combo. I will have to make up for the pb and j day another day. I just may, what do you say?

This reminds me, I had a PB2 dream a couple of nights ago. I had a dream I was in a PB2 type store or factory, and there were hundreds of different flavors. I specifically remember a raspberry swirl PB2 which really didn’t sound appetizing to me. Huh, very random.

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I started my day yesterday with a 2 mile run. I had decided that I wanted to split up my distances today and do some in the morning, and the rest in the afternoon. The morning run was fine, but in the afternoon when I was tackling a 3 mile run, I realized I have a lot of work to do in getting myself into running uphill shape. I have to admit that I walked a little bit up two hills on my afternoon run. It’s early in the season though, I will get there!

Let’s see what kind of fun facts I can conjure up for you from Monday…

  1. Moose got his 2nd tick in 2 days (we were 1 day too late on giving him his flea and tick medicine)
  2. My swimsuit I ordered from Victoria’s Secret came in the mail
  3. I bought a 5 pack of Lara Bars for $4.00 at Target
  4. I bought a shower curtain for the bathroom downstairs (it’s coming along!)
  5. I made a super delicious refreshing salad for dinner

Baby kale, cara cara orange, blackberries, red onion, avocado, black beans, and  Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard!

I posted three photos because I couldn’t decide which one I liked best seeing as they’re all pretty similar looking, so my indecisive self decided to show you all three. It was so pretty, and this time tasted as good as it looked unlike Saturday’s salad.

It was honestly AMAZING! I have made this before using strawberries instead of blackberries, regular mixed greens versus baby kale, and mandarin oranges instead of cara cara. I used the ingredients I had on hand tonight. Either way this salad is the bomb. Refreshing, healthy, and so super easy. It is perfect for entertaining as well. You could top the salad with grilled chicken breast and serve it with a side of hearty whole grain bread. MMMmmm….

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My morning today began with a bowl of Overnight Chia Yogurt that I jazzed it up even more by adding a dash of cinnamon. I have been in a bit of overnight yogurt “rut” lately. Except rut is not the right word because I take rut to mean it’s a bad thing. I have just really been into it lately! Maybe I’ll switch it up soon to keep things interesting.

I am off for now. Hitting the gym after work today to get my sweat on. Have a wonderful day friends.

Continue Reading Tastes as Good as it Looks

This is My Confession

G’ Morning! It was so nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be woken up by an alarm clock! I’m up, had some breakfast and a cup of coffee, and now gearing up for a little run. To be perfectly honest though I don’t have much drive to go run right now. I’m going to do it, I just don’t wannaaaa.

Breakfast: Banana and Peanut butter with cinnamon and my morning mo jo lovingly placed on a perfectly pink valentine tableclotch.

I’m on my second cup of coffee now. I decided I want to enjoy my Saturday morning leisurely before I tackle the day.

************

Last night, I was dead on in saying I ruined my appetite with all of those almonds. We got home at about 7 pm after running our errands and I wasn’t very hungry yet. Eventually I came around though and put together a summery salad (in the dead of winter).

Mixed greens topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and feta cheese. In the mini food processor I made a homemade viniagrette by adding 5 frozen (thawed) strawberries and 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I whirled it together and made a refreshing salad topper. This is one of my absolute favorite salads in the summer and it was nice to be reminded of the sunny season through this dish.

For dessert an hour later I ate a single serving box of Fruit Loops, only 100 calories but 12 g of sugar! Yikes! They are made with whole grain now so at least they have something good (and 3 g of fiber). Anyway, I also had a nice little glass of Tazo Chai tea with a splash of creamer.

We actually did not end up playing games last night. Dana was a little too  intimidated I think. Kidding. We decided to start talking about our plans for an upcoming vacation we have planned at the end of February to……beautiful Southern California! We are going to be visiting three of our friends that live out there and I am ecstatic. More to come on this later. 🙂

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Peanut butter confession time.

Okay, so you all know that I have a slight obsession love for peanut butter. Well, about 4 years ago, a great friend of mine from college, who also happens to love pb as much as I do, told me about this product she found called PB2. She said she found it online, and that it is a powdered peanut butter. They remove most of the fat so that there’s only 1.5 grams of fat and 45 calories per 2 Tablespoon.

Initial thoughts were gross, powdered peanut butter? That can’t be good. Only 45 calories though and 1.5 grams of fat? I don’t know. Completely skeptical. We decided to give it a go together.

We followed the directions and mixed 2 Tablespoons of the powdered PB to 1 Tablespoon of water, and we tasted. Initial thoughts were that it was way different than full fat delicious peanut butter. The texture was lighter, not as sticky, and it had a more subtle flavor. But hmmm….I kind of like. It grew on me.

The only ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt (1 grams of sugar and 94 mg of sodium per 2 Tablespoons which is not bad). It has 5 grams of protein per serving and regular peanut butter has 7 grams, so a little bit less, but still, it’s good.

I’m not saying I don’t eat regular peanut butter anymore because I do. I switch it up though. Pb2 is a little spendy, almost $5 per jar, but it’s kind of like a treat to me. When I feel like my peanut butter intake is getting a little out of hand, I order some of this stuff and it helps slow me down a bit. I can’t just open up the top and dig in. If I want it I actually have to make it. We do always have the natural peanut butter around the house as well because I’m not going to give that stuff up but I do really enjoy the taste of PB2 as well.

I really like the PB2 because I can add spices to it such as cinnamon, and make a cinnamon peanut butter which is delicious on bananas. Also, you can change the consistency of the pb by adding more or less water to your liking.

PB2 is not in many grocery stores in my area, so I end up ordering it online. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.bellplantation.com/. They have recipes on their website too which are fun.

And that’s my confession. Don’t judge.

Off to run!

Continue Reading This is My Confession
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