I kinda went against my rule here because my Dad and I ventured to Whole Foods today…saving my Lululemon raid at the Eaton Centre for Monday.
I thought that maybe that would be a super stupid idea, as I might actually be more at risk at #WholePaycheck then the mall, but I survived and, better yet, it actually wasn’t busy
Guess everyone was either eating leftovers or shopping. Oh well more for me.
They had my purple sweet taters! 10 bucks later on just sweet potatoes is not a problem right?
So happy Boxing Day my friends! I hope your Christmas was amazing yesterday and that you celebrated with your loved ones and enjoyed a lot of good food and laughter.
We hosted the largest family get together we have had in like a decade at our house yesterday. Despite it being a lot of work (the cleaning never ends I swear!) I love big gatherings because my family is so small and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Christmas Day started off as it always does. I get up, eat breakfast, do some last minute stuff (do my Dad or Mom’s stocking, wrap my own present to my parents, etc), go back for a nap because it’s too early to get the parents and poochie up and then wake them up.
Stockings first. Then presents. Maggie was quite a challenge to get a picture of as she was all over the place, wanting to have her ball tossed while simultaneously getting over excited about paper shredding and bow tossing.
My parents then sat down to their favourite once a year breakfast, which was made ON THE GRILL because it was warm out and not snowing.Not complaining! Basically a grand slam for my Dad and a bacon sammich dipped in endless ketchup for my Mom.
The grill makes for the crispiest bacon. #LifeHack
I had my lunch with them and then we were off to the races to get everything set up and prepped before family began to knock at the door at 4-4:30.
I ended up making appetizers that weren’t really necessary as, well, it was 4:30 and dinner was at 6. Oh well, I had fun making them. Pinterest, you always give me fun lil ideas.
Caprese stuffed mushrooms..
…and a random version of bruschetta flat bread.
Shortly after some appie’s and drinks, dinner was served and we all ate like a big family picnic as my parents brought in benches so that we could all sit at the same table.
On the dinner menu included quite the assortment:
~Turkey of course
~The sausage stuffing everyone loved last year
~Garlic mashed potatoes
~My Grandma brought a cheese potato casserole dish
~My Nana’s turnip and carrot mash
~My Mom’s roasted pineapple ham with a mustard glaze
And I was in charge of all vegetable dishes:
~Bacon sautéed brussel sprouts
~Honey roasted carrots
~Roasted asparagus, green beans, zucchini and mushrooms
~Roasted multi-coloured mini potatoes and butternut squash
So yes, lots of food.
My plate.
Then the dessert table came out..
This included our baking and then also included a panettone cake brought by my cousins fiancé Cassandra, ice cream, a Yule Log, aaannnd a fruit cake
Phew. Yeah, can you picture our clean up now?
As much fun as it always is to have large gatherings, the clean-up is always what exhausts you. Can someone come clean up after our parties? That would be nice.
But it was a lot of fun. I’m so glad I got to see everyone and spend the time with them all. I haven’t seen my cousinCassie in forever so that was super nice.
Me and Daddy
Did you all have a fun and family filled Christmas?
Do you host or choose to let someone else take on that duty?
I was reading Julie’s post the other day, as she is one of the amazing bloggers I follow using Bloglovin, and I happened to stumble across this challenge that was originally posted on Pinterest…
As Julie also stated, I wish I knew who the creator of this lovely lil challenge was as it’s a brilliant idea for getting to know your fellow bloggers in an interesting way. So thank you to them (whom ever they may be) and to Julieover at Peanut Butter Fingers for directing my attention to it.
Now, I pretty much know that I will not be able to post 10 posts in ten consecutive days as you know life gets in the way, but I will try my best. Make sure you tell me one or two of your info tidbits on the topic of the day in the comments as I would love to learn more about my readers too! 🙂
So, we shall start with…
Ten Secrets
1. I’m inked…
I have two tattoos and am currently tossing around the idea about getting a third one on my ribs (not gunna lie, the fear of the pain is kind of holding me back…). I got my first one, a butterfly on the top of my foot, with my Mom when I was 17, I think and the second one, a symbol of my past, on my hip a year later. Let me tell you, when your mother, who had back surgery and was left with half a numb foot I might add, tells you that getting a tattoo on your foot is painless…
DON’T LISTEN!
I actually just about passed out no joke. The artist had to stop because I mentioned that the room was going black. Ugh so embarrassing for a wee butterfly that would have take no more than 25 minutes to complete. She tried to make me feel better by saying that it happens all the time, but still. I think I was just overwhelmed with the needle’s painful sensation and the fact that I HATE needles with a capital H. Oh well things happen. On the flip side, I went back for another round the next year and my hip didn’t hurt at all surprisingly.
2. I cheated on a test once…
Yes, you read that right. This goody-too-shoes is a full blown cheater! To make myself feel better about the incident (which may I add I felt awful about for days and felt like the biggest disappointment to that teacher for..), I can say that it wasn’t for my own gains but for someone else. Not that it makes it better. You see, I was in French class one day and there was a classmate of mine that was doing a make-up test a desk in front of me while we were all just working away. He turned my way just enough to ask me a translation and I said no at first but with the number of times he asked, my young and pushover self gave in and told him. Weeelll we got caught and not only can I say that I’m a cheater, but I’m also a tattle tail too..
When our teacher asked us (in front of the whole class!) whether we were cheating, he said no, but I said yes. Hey at least I don’t have to add liar to that list too! As punishment, we both had to write a note to that teacher apologizing for what we had done and I think he got a zero on that test. As an added bonus for the cheat-tattling-honest girl, I got the “good job for telling the truth” sarcastic digs for the rest of the week. Kids can be cruel I tell you.
Oh, but now that I think about it, I actually do have another label to add to my list of names…
3. I stole once…
From Victoria’s Secret! Gasp. Ever have those moments where are trying something on and then something distracts you enough that you walk out of the store with that item? Well that happened to me and a pair of panties. Yes friends, I stole a pair of 5 dollar underwear. Wow this post is all about placing myself in best light eh? I had slipped them on (over my own if anyone was unaware how you can try on underwear..) while I was testing out some other clothing to see if they fit properly and just totally forgot to take them off when I left the change room. I somehow managed to get past the alarms at the door only to realize in another store that I was “doubled up” and furiously ran back to the store to give them back. To be honest, I think they were a lil shocked that I brought them back but in my knowing how easily I can be guilt tripped and feel bad about something, I didn’t want that hanging over my head. Nope.
4. I have never seen, nor do I ever want to see anything related to Star Wars or Star Trek…
Sorry Im Not Sorry, I just don’t like space related films at all. Trek lovers can now officially hate me.
5. I had my Nana chase after an ice-cream truck once…
Calm down I ran with her obvious! I wasn’t that bad. 😉 When the truck managed to drive away from us (do they not look around! Geezz..), all of us, being my Nana, Papa and cousin, jumped in the car and chased after it. True story.
Oh and we eventually got our goods just so I didn’t leave you with a cliff hanger ending. 😀
This reminds me of it every time. Plus, this is just too good not to watch!
6. I stuck a stone in my ear when I was 3 and didn’t tell anyone…
Until my Mom forced it out of me after noticing that one, only one of the tubes I had in my ears had fallen out (as it was supposed to), but the other hadn’t and two, my ear started bleeding. What? You never sat at the park and stuck one of the stones up your nose or in your ear as a child…You haven’t lived. 😛
Consequence of my fear of telling my parents…
I had to get surgery to remove the stone and damaged my ear drum a lil bit. No permanent hearing loss…I think.
7. I’m a strange eater…
I have a number of quirky eating habits:
My food must be burn your face off hot and I will nuke it until it is. Even mid-way munching I will nuke it again because it will have cooled off too much. Nuking is bad you say. Sue me.
I play favouritism. I will ensure that all the best goodies are saved until last. The biggest scoop of peanut butter, the most melted banana and quest bar chunks in my last bite of proats? Yes, and obviously specifically arranged to eat last. The biggest piece of kabocha on my plate. Savoured for the last bite. Making this weird pattern on my nightly casein puddin so that the last bite contains ALL the peanut butter goodness…yes I have too much time on my hands apparently.
I really dislike sharing off my plate. I will make you something in a heartbeat, but try to snag something off mine…Bad idea on your part. Oh you needed that hand? My bad.
Although I love ooey gooey goodness, I really hate my food making a mess. Is that possible?
On most of my plates, food doesn’t touch. As you see in my pictures, unless it’s something like a salad or oatmeal, things are neatly separated. I’m a child I know.
8. I’m the female scarface…
Just kidding. I do have a scar about a centimeter away from my right eye though. Most people wouldn’t notice it because 1. I have bangs and 2. because although it didn’t heal as well as the docs had hoped for (yeah dissolving stiches= no scar my ass, pardon my french), it’s not super prevalent on my face.
How did I get that scar you ask..
Running face first into the back of my Dad’s car.
Bumper: 1. Chelsea’s face: 0
How was I short enough to make facial contact with the bumper of a car, not a truck or SUV, but a car you ask?
I have no idea.
My Dad and I were supposed to be heading to Jazz class but I had heard that there was a fire a couple streets away and was attempting to see if I could see any flames. When my Dad called for me to get into the car, I made my way to the car by walking backwards on my tippy toes (great multitasking eh?) and when I finally turned around, things got ugly. Let’s just say that dance class didn’t happen that night and a lovely visit to the ER happened to get my screaming face stitched up.
Who would have thought that it would take 3 nurses, an X-ray bag and my Mom to hold me down while they were knitting my eye (okay near my eye) and that my poor father would need [Popsicle] therapy after almost fainting in the corner. Sorry my reaction caused you to have nightmares for years Dad…your lil bun hates needles.
9. I was an animal bully…
Before you die of shock, start cursing my name and never look at my blog again, I will say I had the best intentions. Kids just don’t think things through all the way you know? Here are two scenarios.
1. I’m about 4 maybe and I decided that all the fish in my family’s fish tank looked bored and were just dying to play. See good intentions. So, as my parents were sleeping (an early rise even as a wee one I was), I put together a cool lil shoebox of tricks and set that on the floor next to the fishtank. I then got on a chair with the fish net thing and began to fish (no pun intended) out the two largest fish, our angel fish, out of the tank and put them in the box to “play.” After a minute or two I began to wonder why they didn’t seem to be having such a good time so I went upstairs to wake up my Mom and tell her that I thought the fish were dead…
Groggy Mom: dead…?
Chelsea: They’re not moving.
M: …Are they at the bottom of the tank?
C: No.
M [now coming to a lil bit more and looking confused]: …Well…Where are they..?
C: In the box.
M: ?..!!!
My Mom than leaps out of bed, rushes downstairs and throws the fish back in the tank where they sunk to the bottom before eventually coming to again. Surprising survival skills those guys have apparently. So thankfully I didn’t kill them, but I learned that fish do have fun…they just have to be in water.
2. When was a wee bit older, but only by a couple years, I was thoroughly enthralled with my hamster, Rosie. One day during play time, which was when Rosie came out to exercise in her ball and play with me while my Mom cleaned up her cage, I decided that Rosie should experience the thrill of a roller coaster ride. I’m cringing as I write this. I’m a horrible human being. So the closest thing to a roller coaster apparatus, as far as I was concerned, was a fake plant in the corner of the room. So I set her on one of the leaves and let gravity take it’s course. Weeeee…? Rosie probably didn’t think so. The plummet was only about 1-1.5 feet onto carpet, but still, she probably had not one, but two heart attacks that night as I did it not once, but twice because I just had to show my Mom how much fun Rosie was having…
My Mom then informed me that such activity was probably not fun for Rosie and that she could get hurt…
SO DONT DO THAT!
Lesson number 2: Animals don’t appreciate being dropped from high places Dropzone style.
10. OCD tendencies can get the better of me sometimes…
They always say your mind is a powerful thing. They also say that because of that, if you put your mind to something, you will succeed. Well I succeed at some pretty useLESS things. Here are a few examples of how OCD annoys the heck out of me.
I fall into routine really quickly and certain things can become almost ritualistic if I don’t stop, think about what is happening and try to ignore the urge to repeat.
Certain places in the my house where items need to be where they always are. I will notice if they are out of place and it will drive me nuts until I put it back. I find that this one is a common one amongst people though…right?
I ALWAYS have to pee, if not once, but twice, before I can eat my meal or it just sits in my mind that I didn’t pee. Weird I know.
The mind is strong they say, well maybe I should put that strength to better things sometimes. No I don’t have OCD but I will say that some of these are just annoying and, the first and last ones especially, perhaps need to be worked. I think that everyone has their own lil OCD quirks, just some are more mild than others. Okay so you double check that your alarm is set to the right time and is ON. I would say that’s normal. Checking that things are locked? Again, normal. What’s not normal is when it starts to interfere with your functioning and that is when you need to work that mind muscle and put it in it’s place.
Okay so now that you know some of my deep dark secrets, it’s only fair that you tell me one of yours mmkay? 😉
The next post in this challenge is my Nine Loves so start thinking about some of your loves too.
It’s been a lil bit since I showed you some of my finds and favouriteson a good ol’ Friday and since I have a few this week to share I thought I would quickly show them some love.
Cool Pinnin’
So pretty!! I love the print and that they did it in pink and silver. Plus, you can never go wrong with sparkles in my eyes. #SparkleQueen #NeverEnoughSparkles
No explanation required. It’s cookie dough people! And it’s a nut butter. I die. I just need my blender to be able to crush up those almonds…. Thanks Sarah!
Baked Potato or, better yet, sweet potato anyone? This pin is more for inspiration as I do like stuffin things like squash and the man also loves a good stuffed tater. I’m thinking he would drool over that baked sweet tater stuffed with feta, olives, and sundried tomatoes.
Link Love
This may seem random, but I found a super informative guide to all there is sweet tater! Check out this wonderful write up from Bob over at Cannundrums.
Do you know how many varieties of sweet potatoes (or yams as we North American’s falsely call them) there are? Purple ones, white ones, purple-skin, white fleshed ones. You see, there are more than just your old fashioned sweet and very orange looking sweet potato. There are even ones that change colour as they bake!
Would you believe that this sweet tater was white before I roasted it up? This lovely transforming gem was found at the new Asian market in Jackson Square (they also carry my beloved purple sweet taters too) and I quickly put it to use after grueling leg workout. The inside was faintly purple when I cut into it and once it was done roasting it took on that lovely intense purple hue you see in the picture. Oh, and yes that is nut butter you see slathered on there. Toffee flavoured Nuts n’More peanut butter to be exact.
Thursday Conquering: I had wanted to try nut butter on a sweet potato for a really long time but didn’t actually let myself because, in my mind, that was too indulgent and would go over my peanut butter “limit” for the day. Well, when I found these beautiful sweet potatoes I knew that I had to kill off that irrational fear and so, after my killer leg workout I dove right in and wow was it good. Wish I could have put more pb on that tater for more coverage, but that’s besides the point. I’m proud that I did it and it was a tasty success to repeat in the near future.
Yummers!
Conclusion. If you have never tried nut butter on a sweet potato (of any colour)…do it! Also, if you have not dipped those toes in the sea of non-orange sweet taters….Dive in peeps! The purple ones are amazing and very pretty to boot. 😀 I digress…
Favourite Finds
As If I don’t eat enough shrooms…
Pranin Purefood Portabello D. I mentioned Pranin in my last post, but this is a new one I picked up after chattering with Sam and Shelly about the importance of vitamin D. Hey, it was on sale anyways and I got my store discount 😉
Anyways, it’s a whole food supplement (the most accessible form) of Vitamin D coming entirely from organically harvest portabello mushrooms. As a vitamin we sun deprived Canadian’s don’t often get enough of, especially after this winter, it is quite an important one to consider. Important for bone/teeth health as well as helping with the absorption of phosphorus and calcium, Vitamin D has been surfacing more and more into the literature for autoimmune disorders, MS, intestinal cancers, type 1 diabetes and many others. [source]. So, eat yo shrooms!
What I’m doing with it….Putting it in my morning proats. The fats should help with it’s absorption as it is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning it gets stored in your body’s fatty tissues. This step here (having it with fat) may not be necessary as I did see in a few sites that you don’t have to worry about interactions with vitamin D, but it doesn’t hurt in my mind to do it this way. It also means I don’t have to put it in my water…Mmmm mushroom flavoured water..
aaannnd for my nightly tea drinking …
Stash Chocolate Orange Herbal Tea. I snatched this new flavour up this week and I have been enjoying it quite a bit for the past few nights. The aroma of the orange is quite strong for a tea (in a good way as I like the smell of oranges) and the flavour is strong enough that you get the bright citrus notes against the deeper cacao flavour. Good find!
These candles that I found at Carlton Cards…
Langley Home Candles. These two scents (Vanilla Cinnamon Brulee and Birthday Cake) smell amazing. So good that I went back and bought another of the cinnamon ones for my Mom for Mother’s day! I hope she is enjoying burnin hers as much as I am mine. Kinda sad though as it’s only got a 1/3 left and it’s been about 2 weeks…Apparently I’m diggin my candles lately….as you see one of them is lit in the picture (burin as I write this post). A writer needs her ambiance amirite?
It may not feel100% like it yet, but hey, we are gettin warmer over here! 😀
I just wanted to pop in to share with you a couple things I have been lovinthis week.
Favourite Pins:
Gawd I wish I had a waffle maker sometimes. I could totally make pancakes as an alternative but these just look cooler. #SadFace
These just look unreal! Good job on these Michelle!
Can Valentine’s Day come back so I can have these done! So pretty!
Favourite New Products:
It finally arrived! Netrition, why you have to take so long to send me my pots of pure protein gold?
My Toffee Crunch Nuts n’More Peanut Butter!! OOOhhh Emm Gee it’s sooo good! I also got my old fav, the chocolate peanut butter one, but holy, the toffee one is on point!
So ooey and gooey delicious! Have you tried them out yet? I’m bringing in a batch for my community guys at the gym tomorrow when we all head in for our lovelySaturday morning gym sesh. The trainers on staff that morning generally also appreciate my goodie deliveries. They’re gunna have to fight over these ones though as there are only 9…prolly 8 actually as I anticipate my boyfriend snaggin one tonight.
Favourite New Blog:
The Cookie ChRUNicles.
I came acrossMeredith’s blog through last weeks WIAW (thanks Jen!) and I just loved reading her posts! She writes in a very engaging way and I love that she stands by the idea of following what her body is saying (when it comes to what, how and when to eat) as opposed to what she “should be doing” according to the common belief. She fuels her body appropriately for her goals and her sport (running) and that is quite inspiring for me. PLUS she’s a fellow oatmeal and peanut butter lover just like me. 😉
Favourite Meal:
The beautiful scallops that I had tonight. I told myself that I would stay away from the seafood counter…
But I just couldn’t. Aaaannd it’s not my fault it’s Friday and they restocked EVERYTHING so it was uber fresh! I just couldn’t help myself. #ScallopAddict.
I had to show ya two as I am going strong on that toffee butttaa…
…with a lil exploded cookies and creamQuestie action in that there proats bowl too! 😀 Yum.
Favourite News:
I got my first acceptance letter for University! One step closer to my RD degree right?!?
Hopefully the other schools I applied to will follow Brescia’s lead as I really am not feelin London. The only issue is that this offer is uber tempting because not only did they accept me as an advanced standing student (meaning I only have to complete part of the undergraduate program to gain accreditation in the dietetics world to move onto my Masters/Internship) BUT they offered me a spot in 4th year rather than 3rd as I expected. Only one year until Master’s degree then? Hmmmm…oh so tempting.
So tell me…
What are some of the things you have been lovin this week?
So I have found that I have been giving out a lot of advice and suggestions at GoodnessMe! lately with regards to recipes. In particular, customers tend to strike up a conversation about how they are trying to make this or that but whatever the recipe may be, it requires the use of some ‘unhealthier’ ingredients that they don’t wish to use. This then leaves them in a bit of pinch.
Take granola bars for example….
They are quite the convenient and tasty lil bars you might say….
BUT wait…
They can also be quite the devilish lil bars too…
Often they are filled with HUGE amounts of sugar…
….and other questionable invaders…
Soy lecithin…?
Corn syrup!
Invertsugar…WTF?
Corn syrup solids….sounds appetizing
….mmmm BHT…?
Even the so called ‘healthier‘ and ‘natural brands’ carry some pretty hefty no-nos when it comes to smart snacking.
Take Kashi for example.
I used to LOVE their cereal (GoLean crunch, not because it was “GoLean” but because it was yummy and, from what I thought, more natural and healthier than the other brands…Ah memories) and eat their bars on occasion (life before Questbars…sad days). Today though, Kashi doesn’t really phase me. Maybe that’s because cereal in general doesn’t really register to me as food very often. Sorry to all you cereal lovers out there for my hateful words against your precious cereal. Or maybe it’s because I know better now and because of that, I just prefer to make my own yummy snacks.
So what do I have against Kashi you ask?… as I ramble on further..
Nothing. I’m just stating an example and trust me, they are BY FAR not the worst, but they are not the best choice either when it comes to curing your hunger pangs in between meals. Let me show ya’ll..
Here’s the ingredient list on their trail mix bars. Hmm…Trail mix…Sounds healthy right? Fruit, nuts, seeds…
Yes, grains and almonds are at the top of the list, which is good because that means they make up the the largest respective quantity in the bars BUT who pops up next? Brown rice syrup (sugar), evaporated cane juice crystals (more sugar..I think?), soy grits (what?!? I already am not a fan of soy, but I will stop it there), evaporated cane juice syrup (like we needs more sugar…), vegetable glycerin (I have no idea)..and so on. Oh and their supposedly amazing Kashi Seven Whole Grains Blend…yeah it’s at the bottom of the list.
So yeah, there’s some “Tasty Ingredients”… as they call them.
What do you think? Am I sounding too harsh or picky?
Annnywhooo, so after reading all of that you are prolly wondering when I’m going to get to my point of writing this post. Well, the reason I chose to mention granola bars was because I had a customer recently who was trying so desperately to make her own homemade batch of bars for her kids but just could not figure out how to make them without a sticky binder. Yes, things like honey and maple syrup are great NATURAL binders, much better than using corn syrups and such, BUT they pack a lot of sugar that will still cause the same insulin spike in your body as regular ol’ sugar. In my mind, that is NOT what I want my midafternoonpick-me-up to do.
SO…
This brings me to my MAIN POINT (finally I know..)
What types of snacks can I swap out for some of these processed, so called healthy snacks?
And
Better yet…
What are some easy recipes for said swaps so that I can ensure that I know exactly what is going into my (and kids if you have them) body and will limit my consumption of processed crap..?
Well, let me show you 😀
A special thanks to Pinterest and all the amazing bloggers whose recipes make my list of swap-a-roos! Just click on the pictures for the recipes!
To start, we need a list of snackies that most tend to gravitate towards for convenience and “health”..
Granola Bars/Protein Bars/Energy Bars
Muffins
Yogurt
Granola
Since I had been asked specifically about granola bars, I will start with those. In this category I will also include protein and energy bars as well as they are also quite common. Making your own homemade bars can be quite challenging without that sticky component but I have found some great alternatives that will still be yummy and, better yet, contain more nutrients and less sugar!
One possible solution, which I suggested to my customer, is making baked oatmeal and cutting that into bars. There is no need for all that sticky, sugary syrup if the entire bar is baked! Check these out for inspiration.
Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Granola Bars. Soft and chewy, these bars combine dark chocolate, walnuts and oats to make for a yummy and dense snack. There is 1/4 cup of sugar in these though, which you can do a couple things with…
You could care less about it and leave it as is
You could sub in 1/4 cup of apple sauce (unsweetened), banana or other puree and just reduce the milk
You could use Stevia or another natural sugar instead **Be careful as some people don’t like Stevia**
Thanks to Anne over at Fannetastic Food for the recipe.
Chocolate Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal Bars. Two words. Cookie.Dough! The lovely blogger over at Mouth Watering Foods (who I cannot for the life of me find your name, I’m sorry. I think your recipes are awesome!) created a chocolate and cookie dough bomb made purely from wholesome ingredients. Sweetness from the banana and apple sauce. Stability from the oats and the overall baking process. Fun points for the addition of the homemade healthy cookie dough that they provide the recipe to as well. All and all, a great bar for snacking as you decide whether to add any additional sweetness, in the form of maple syrup, to the recipe
Instead of baked oatmeal bars, you can find alternative binders to hold’em bars together.
Like nut butters…
Step by step on how to make some high protein, low sugar bars. These use almond butter and apple sauce for binding and sweetness while also adding whey for an extra protein boost.
…Or bananas…
Low-Fat Granola Bars With Banana, Cranberries and Pecans. Who doesn’t like bananas?!?! The dried fruit can be a sugar bomb as well so tweak the ‘filling’ ingredients as you please. Overall a great snack that is vegan, dairy and nut free and can be made gluten free (use GF oats) by Nicole over at Prevention RD.
Due to the extra quick sugars in this one, it could work out great a pre-workout snack!
Another convenient snack is granola. It’s great for sprinkling in yogurts, on top of smoothies or just plain eating by the handfuls. Oh and it’s good for me….right? I mean its generally made up of oats, nuts, seeds and fruits, so what could be the problem? Well, similar to granola bars, what makes the oat and nutty goodness stick together? Often its a syrup of some kind. So we are left with a similar problem as above BUT here are some recipes that use alternative binders to the most tradition ones to give you that clumpy, crunchy granola that you crave.
Pecan Pie Granola. So this one is a lil bit of a cheat as it uses a lower sugar maple syrup as part of the binder. Mind you, it’s only 2 tablespoons, which leaves you with a single gram of sugar per serving, but it’s still a syrup of some kind. The rest of the binding power simply comes from the egg white. I liked that it was quick, easy and a great take on well received fall-ish flavour. Big thanks to Katie over at Dashing Dish for the recipe.
Low Carb Peanut Butter Banana Coconut Granola. This recipe by Kelly over at Foodie Fiasco uses peanut butter and banana to work their magic as binders and is completely syrup free! One note with this one is that you are not going to get the same feel as the store bought variety (still crunchy though!) but hey, that’s due to the fact that it doesn’t have nasties in it.
I can personally attest to the peanut butter/flour not getting aaaaassss crunchy as a syrup would, but the flavour is still there. He’s my own Peanut Butter and Banana Granola if you want to try it out.
Aside from oaty snacks, we also have things like muffins and cookies that people tend to reach for as something quick and easy. Many still believe that muffins are quite the healthy snacking option…
but generally that assumption is quite the contrary.
so sad but so true.
Muffins are often loaded with hidden sugars, syrups, fats and other crap that most are unaware of. So, while you are mindlessly snacking away on your ‘healthy snack’ your body is actually hating you for your dietary choice. Probably it’s biggest complaint->Insulin spike much! (or you could refer to it as…when sugar attacks!)
BUT OF COURSE…
I have a solution for all the muffin lovers out there (which maybe you don’t want to hear…)
MAKE YOUR OWN!
😀 you know you love me.
Here, I will even help you out on the first couple.
The first stop is the site of Miss food genius herself, Kim, over at The Coconut Diaries. I follow this amazing lady on Instagram and her personal site is definitely something to check out. Her IG banner phrase of “healthy food never looked more naughty” really suites her food. Trust me!
Ok, back to the recipes…
So, technically were have a smorgasbord of cupcakes, mugcakes and muffins list here but hey, they look the same right and OMG they look delish! Did I mention they were healthy and speedy too?
Cookie Dough 1 Minute Cupcake
Chocolate Brownie Crusted Mugcake
PB&J Muffins
All of her creations are made with healthy ingredients and are filled with protein and great flavour to keep you satisfied. Not to mention most of her baked goods are nuke-able, making them super fast for those who need to rush out the door. Like I said, she is a genius in the kitchen so make sure to check her out!
I have mentioned her before and I will mention her again, Ellen over at Best Fit Body is also quite the chefy and bake-ress. Check these out.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Muffins. Made with wholesome ingredients and packed with 8g of protein, who wouldn’t want one of these lil muffins? I mean come on, PB, banana and chocolate is a classic combo so they are winners in my eyes. Plus you can make up a batch to last you the week of healthy snacking.
Last but certainly not least, I will guide you over to Katie’s page (Chocolate-Covered Katie) for some fall muffin porn.
Pumpkin Pie Filled Muffins. For those who are more lenient with their baking, as she does use some brown sugar (which you could sub out for Stevia if you wanted to), I give you these lil babies. Still made from whole and nutritious ingredients, if you are a pumpkin lover you will certainly enjoy these. That ooey-gooey centre will make your tastebuds happy campers.
I also have some muffins of my own if you want to check those out on my recipe page. My favourite would be my Candyfit Muffins which were inspired by Kierston over at Candyfit.
So there you have it. You can no longer give the excuse that an unhealthy snack was simply too convenient to pass by when hunger strikes as I have given you quite a large number of options to choose from that are easy, quick and yummy. I even have ones that you can make in 1-2 minutes when the hanger starts to come out and you need food NOW. Put the nature valley bar down and whip up a 2 minutes cupcake would ya!
I didn’t have time to join the WIAWpartay this week but it’s prolly for the best as I didn’t really have anything too exciting to share. Thanks digestive problems for still keeping me stuck to my safe foods. ANNNNYYWHOOO, I have seen a couple other bloggers do these types of posts (Friday Faves a la Sweat The Sweet Life with Lauren, Friday Finds with Crystal over at Spoonful Of Fit) and I thought that since I missed out on one foodie share, I will just fill that void in your lives with another one 😀 You missed me right?
So, I’m going to be super cool and combine the two post ideas, starting with…
My top fav food of this week was this..
MaraNatha roasted almond butter. Now I know that this may be nothing new or exciting for anyone else but I’m a lil behind on the almond butta train ookkkaay. I didn’t even think I really likedalmond butter. I mean my peanut butter is amazeballz and the new cashew butter that has infiltrated my heart is liquid gold. What’s special about almonds? Well, apparently my body suffered a small loss when my eyes were forced to watch my boyfriend polish off that rather large jar of my homemade Nuttzo as I started to randomlycrave almond butter. Weird? For me, yes. Anyways, wouldn’t you know that during this rando craving state, it was almond butta that was the ‘to be put on sale’ winner at Fortinos this week. So I took that as my sign and snatched one up. I must say, it tasted preeeety tasty in my banana-berry-tastic zoats!
Favourite Meal of this week…
A beast of a salad at the best salad place I have been to yet, Fast and Fresh. It is located in the Urban Eatery at the Eaton Centre and is always my treat when I go downtown. Salad base of kale (yes kale, cool they offer this now eh?) and mixed greens, which I told them to take it easy on as this girl is alllll about her toppings! Who’s with me on that one? Roasted turkey breast chunks, celery, cuc, broccoli florets, carrot shreds and the best toppings….sundried tomatoes and sauteed portabello mushrooms. YUMMO. Lightly dressed in their house made balsamic regretting. Don’t be fooled by this picture, this salad is about the size of my head and I can never finish the whole bowl but I definitely don’t leave any gourmet toppings that’s for sure!
Favourite Pin
ICE CREAM!! Healthy, dairy free, gluten-free ice-cream to be exact. That makes for a very happy girl!. 😀 <- yup, just like that
This is a delicious and more nutritious version of Bananas Foster Caramel ice cream a la Desserts With Benefits. Jessica is a genius when it comes to making some of the greatest sweets healthy and guilt free. She has sooo many more ice-cream varieities on her blog along with other cakes, cookies, sweets and much more. Check her out here.
Four O’Clock Teas. I got a sample of the Truffle Mint flavour from work and WOW this tea is tasty! I really liked that it was an herbal tea because of the natural medicinal properties of herbal blends in addition to the fact that as I tend to drink my teas at night and prefer ones with less or no caffeine. All of their their amazing flavours are organic and comprised of wholesome and natural spices, herbs, roots, extracts, pure cacao and much more so you can feel good about sippin them all up. Aside from the herbal varieties, they also carry loose leaf teas, rooibos tea (If you haven’t heard of the amazing benefits of this tea, go here), green, black and white teas, energy teas and assorted boxes that allow you to sample a variety. Definitely a brand to check out if you are tea lover. Here’s looking at you Miss Molly! Top 5 flavours I want to try now that I have found this tea….
Got Camel? Okay that was cruel, I don’t like to think about where my meats come from but I got super excited to go to the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto this week to pick up a new variety of exotic meat. This time it was ground camel AND ground venison
So if you have any cool recipes to share or ideas on how to use these guys, let me know. I feel like venison will be easier to find something (other than burgers) to base a recipe off of but camel…hmmm I will have to think on that one!
Well that’s it for me today. Time for snackie and Entourage with Andre 😀 ❤
So I have been on another baking craze lately and have been pinnin’ recipes on Pinterest like there’s no tommorrow. I wanted to bring to you some of my favourites that I’m hoping to make very soon and some that I have used for inspiration for my next baking projects to tackle. Enjoy!
The first was one that I have already made but STILL have not actually tried yet. This was the original recipe by the lovely Ellen and Jules over at Best Fit Body. I came across these wonderful ladies on Instagram actually and I’m so glad that I did as they really know how to bake some beautiful things that are healthier (and most often gluten free) versions of some of the best goodies. These brownies in particular caught my eye as they combine banana in the mix, which I love! Love my nanners. 😀
mmmmm soo fudgey!
So I began my process of entering in the recipe into MyFitnessPal and was slightly disappointed at the amount of sugar (although it is all from the banana pretty much) and fat (all good fats mind you from the almond flour) these beautiful babies contained, so I went on a lil adventure to try to bring those two down a notch while still keeping the integrity of the recipe. So here is my, not as pretty, version of their brownies:
Banana Fudge Brownies
Makes 12
Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup almond flour
2 tbsp pure cocoa (unsweetened)
3 packets of Stevia (more or less as needed, we don’t have huge sweet toothes over here)
1 square of baker’s chocolate (pure chocolate here, no sugar added)
1 tbsp peanut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup liquid egg whites
1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened plain coconut yogurt (I used Yoso, can probably sub another yogurt just make sure it’s not 0%)
130g banana
2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
3 tbsp natural sugar free maple syrup (I used Natures Hollow which is sweetened with Xylitol)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Combine all of your dry ingredients in a bowl (except the chocolate square)
In another bowl, gently melt your chocolate square with your coconut oil and banana. I used the microwave, but you can use a double boiler if preferred just keep an eye on it. When melted, mix around to break up the banana.
Add your peanut butter and stir until combined
Add the rest of your wet ingredients to the wet mixture, adding the egg whites last so that you don’t end up cooking them.
Fold your wet into your dry until combined.
Pour mixture into a square baking pan that has either been well greased/sprayed or lined with parchment paper and make sure the mixture is nice and level.
Bake until the middle is set and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the brownies. Mine took approximately 45 minutes.
Let sit in the pan and cool for at least an hour for the mixture to completely cool before cutting into squares
The original recipe called for chocolate chips to be folded into the mix and/or nut butter swirled on top. Feel free to add what you like and I would have totally added carob chips into the mix if they fit in the macros I was looking for. Be creative! 😀
Nutritionals (per 1/12 of the recipe)
83 cals, 9g carbs, 5g fat, 3g protein, 2g sugar
Alrighty, what else is on my pinnin hitlist?
Peanut Butter and Jelly Breakfast Cake via Hungryhealthygirl. I love the idea of these cute lil bars! I do want to take the recipe for a lil tweaking as I don’t like baking with sugar, but hopefully I can get something tasty out of this one!
Plantain Bread!
I have seen sooo many recipes with plantains lately that it has peaked my curiously enough to actually go out and buy one! So, I have made up my own recipe for protein plantain bread that I’m crossing my fingers will work out. Inspiration for my recipe came from a few different sites including this recipe above by Krista at Tiny N’ Fit. Also used was the grain free plantain bread by the girls over at Purely Twins, which was the first spark of interest in using plantains. My plan is to make a less sugar heavy version that is still sweet and has a lil bit more protein. Wish me luck as it’s going down today! Stay tuned 😀
I have been seeing a lot of pumpkin recipes for the fall season and for some reason it makes me wan to bake with pumpkin despite not remembering liking pumpkin…Fellow foodies, ever have that problem? These two recipes have stood out to me…
Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts with Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze. This recipe comes from Savannah over at MuffinTopless. This intrigued me particularly because it uses casein, which is a protein that I have yet to bake with BUT I have heard it makes for more moist baked goods. Of course, all I have is chocolate casein so tweaking will have to be done. The glaze also sounds yummy, but like the recipes itself, the coconut sugar will be removed in my version.
Similarly Crystal over at Spoonful Of Fit posted something quite delicious looking…
Crystal makes amazing recipes with even better macros so I’m always taking cues from her baking skillz when experimenting with my own creations. Also, because I have been making muffins like it’s my job lately, these surprise muffins seem like fun!
With both of these recipes I’m thinking that I may forgo the pumpkin (gasp I know) and either go for banana (my go to because it’s ALWAYS delish) OR stick with the fall theme and go with an apple version of either one of these recipes. Of course I have chocolate casein, so I have to take that into consideration as well.
aaannd last but not least, I still want to make one of these beauties..
Cake in a Squash! You know how many times I have seen versions of these beautiful things on Instagram?!?! They make me crave them every time. I think the first version goes to Miss Clark over at clarkpharm.blogspot.ca, which is where this pictorial came from. Since then I have seen quite the variety of squash cakes, even some that have added…wait for it…QUESTBARS! That’s a win in my book every time! Take a lookie…
OMG my favourite squash (kabocha), cookie dough questie AND a peanutty sauce. I die. From Miss Amanda Clark once again.
Maple Protein Cake baked in a kabocha squash with what looks like heavenly toppings (peanut butta and chocolate) via Stuft Mamma
Okay okay, that’s enough drooling for one night ;-), but I want to give you a sneak peek at my version of the plantain bread before I hit post as I just pulled these lovelies out of the oven.
Sorry, horrid lighting, it’s 8:30pm over here, but OMG I’m sooo excited to try them. A pic is all you get 😉 and hopefully they are yummy enough to post up really soon 😀
I wanted to do a quick blurb on how I prep my noms for the coming week as I have seen that a lot of people find it useful to see how others do their preppin. In fact, Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean does a whole post on not only her own personal food prep but also a bunch of others too. If you would like inspiration or tips I would suggest you check it out! I do want to mention that I am not your typical prepper….let me explain. I see quite a few benefits to preparing food ahead of time, but I also have some qualms with it. You see, I like the majority of my food freshly cooked and have a tough time accepting a re-heated meal if I can just make it fresh. For example, freshly roasted veggies are WAY BETTER than those that were done a few days ago and then nuked. I just enjoy them more. Due to this particular-ness, I prep a few essentials, while leaving the rest to cook when I require it. Here is a list of things that I ALWAYS prep for the week.
Chocolate feva this week with my New Zealand Swiss Chocolate whey
About 10-12 baked chicken breasts. Generally 5-6 are done at one time, than another 1/2 dozen midway through the week) for my boyfriend and I to have on hand. Yeah we are total carnivores. This week I made a batch that was baked with a homemade basil pesto and chili flakes (amazing!), but normally we just bake them in some pimento paste, or ‘vinga’ as we call it. We like things spicy around here. 😀
My post-workout protein muffins. I used chocolate whey this week. Best decision EVER!
Homemade turkey burgers if we want them that week. These are simply extra lean ground turkey combined with onions and whatever other spices/herbs you like and then grilled up on our George Foreman grill. I generally add a good shake of whole fennel seeds, basil, garlic powder and chili flakes and/or cayenne pepper.
In addition to the essentials, if I am in the baking mood (who am I kidding, I’m always up for baking), I will generally bake up a lil something special each week for my boyfriend and I…okay mostly the boyfriend….to snack on. This week I made that same Double Chocolate Protein Bread that I made last week aaaaannnd I really want to make Lindsay’s Sweet Potato Brownies for Andre. These super simple brownies will be mentioned further into this post.
The other main components of the meals that I nom on are generally not really planned out as I tend to get ideas from what looks good or is on sale at the farmer’s market or the grocery store when I shop. This week some of the other items being added to my meal plan (Andre is out of town for most of this week so I’m cooking mostly for just lil ol’me 😦 ) include:
Fresh Swordfish and Vegetable Kabobs which I’m planning on grilling up with the rest of my basil pesto. Mmmmm I love swordfish!
One rainbow trout fillet which will probably also get some basil pesto added to it and be thrown into the oven.
Perhaps the rest of that bison steak I have stashed in the freezer from last week
So that was my quick lil post on what I do for food prepping and to conclude I wanted to leave you with a few lil tips
Give some thought as to what you eat on a regular basis and ask yourself whether those can be prepped ahead of time.
Before you go grocery shopping you may find it helpful to roughly plan out some meals for the week so you don’t enter the store without some type of a plan in mind.
Parooze Pinterest or your favourite food blogs for some yummy and easy recipes that you could prep for when time is slim. For those who struggle to find time for breakfast, look up some easy homemade baked oatmeal or granola bars that are healthy and easy to grab as your rush out the door. For those who work late, make use of your crockpot or prep some foods in advance so they are ready for you when you arrive home hangry 😉
Set a time in your schedule to do your prepping. You will be thankful you did!
As a final tip and one that is SO SO SO important is to not allow yourself to fall into ruts. Unless you really have no time to spare, make an effort to have some different foods in your plan so you avoid getting bored and loosing motivation. As mentioned, Pinterest is a great resource for new and exciting meals that take lil time to make and are healthy choices!
Aaaannd to show you how amazing Pinterest really is, I wanted to show you some of the recipes that I have found recently that I are on my to-make list
Cinnamon Banana Waffle Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding. This one is more inspiration rather than a mimic. Thanks to Lauren at sweatthesweetstuff for directing me to this pin! It’s from Paleomg and I thought it was a briliant idea that she made bread pudding from WAFFLES. How cool is that?!?! It’s quite genius actually. Although I have yet to attempt my first waffle, as I’m afraid Mr. George Foreman will ruin them, this would be awesome to try. I see lots of banana and peanut butta goodness in a future version of these 😀
Me thinks I’m on a cookie-dough craze now…
Cookie Dough Stuffed Pancakes! This one is yet another in the books for adapting into my own creation. The base recipe is from Cara over at Cara’s Cravings and I just thought it was an awesome idea to stuff pancakes with homemade cookie dough crumbles…or questbar pieces… Sounds delish!
Peanut Butter, Jam, & Banana Breakfast Pizza. Angela my dear (over at Oh She Glows), you are a genius! A sweet, fruity pizza would make an amazing pre-workout meal! I would probably end up making a protein icing rather than using the jam for the added protein, but the other toppings (banana, peanut butta and cocoa nibs) are for sure staying! 😉
Sweet Potato Brownies. These beauties are from Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean and I have been dying to make these for the past few weeks, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet! Although they are too high in sugar for me, I think my boyfriend will LOVE these to death so I believe they will be made this week! ***UPDATE I made these just before posting this and the boyfriend loved them!***
My kind of cinnabon!
Cinnamon Rolls. I found these on pinterest which than proceeded to lead me over to Arielle at The Diva Dish. When I first saw these I immediately thought of my mom because she loooooves cinnabons. I have made homemade cinnabons before that turned out not too bad, but these just look amazing. I have already attempted these particular ones but I failed miserably due to making too many substitutions as I didn’t have some of the ingredients listed. Ooops. So I want to attempt them again with the actual ingredients listed and see how they turn out!
oh you wanted some savory ones too?….hmmm I suppose you noticed I tend to do most of my drooling over the breaky or sweeter things in life. Okay, okay, if you insist 😛
Quesadillas. I always see Lindsay’s (The Lean Green Bean) various versions of this delicious meal and I wonder why I haven’t made one yet. So many different options to choose from and I am still quesadilla-less!
Korean Bibimbap. This isn’t from anyone in particular, but rather is just something I would love to try, whether making my own or at a restaurant. There is something very pleasing to me about a bowl full of veggie and protein goodness. So fresh and healthy! Aaaannnd those runny eggs have been gettin me lately. 😀
Anyways that’s all for this post, I hope you enjoyed your tour of the sweeter side of Pinterest 😉
My 
Lil Miss Fitness Freak 