Good afternoon! I hope you are all having a great Tuesday. My work week is pretty slow right now, which was great at first but now is starting to get super boring. Like yesterday I had fun browsing blogs, pinning on Pinterest, and sort of goofing off, but eventually I got bored and the day was just dragggging on. I think today will be a little better, but it is still off to a slow start.

Part of the reason we are slow at work right now is because many of our contracts with clients are wrapping up and we are waiting to hear if we won new business. Cross your fingers that we do so my boredom will end! Haha but really, these slow times are rare so I need to stop and appreciate them before I’m back to feeling stressed. Phew!

Workout

My workouts this week have been sorta…meh. While I did wake up this morning early enough to run a mile with Jack and complete part of an Insanity DVD, I was feeling kinda unmotivated and just went trough the movements without really pushing myself like I usually do. Don’t get me wrong I will still tired and sweaty, but I definitely was lacking my normal intensity.

I think part of this reason is because I am getting really excited for Tina’s best body boot camp next week and am just over my current workout routine. I think I should probably just go ahead and join a gym to make this boot camp easier, but I want to wait and see what the workouts will look like before I take the plunge. Hopefully I can make it through a little longer with my Insanity DVDs before I start this new routine! We will see…

In other workout-related updates, my friends and I recently purchased a Living Social deal for 5 hot yoga sessions for $15. Yay!

I should admit that I have never done yoga before so I will probably look like a total goon while taking these classes. At least none of my other friends have done yoga either so we will be in the same boat. I can’t wait!

Recipe

Ok, so as I mentioned yesterday, I did some baking this weekend that turned out some really amazing healthy (er- relatively healthy) cookies. As I was lounging around recuperating from my hot run on Sunday, I suddenly had the urge for something sweet. We didn’t have any desserts on hand, but I remembered that one of my favorite bloggers Tina @ Carrots N Cake has a large collection of healthy cookie recipes on her blog (including the one minute peanut butter cookie that I have since recreated multiple times. So good).

Anyway, I dug through my email archives where I save all of the recipes that I want to make and found her awesome list of cookies. I looked through each recipe and the required ingredients and I decided that the Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies were exactly what I needed They came out perfectly and I have been eating ~~way too many of~~ them all week! Yum! Here’s how they came together:

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

Then it was time to make the dough. Into a large bowl I combined old fashioned rolled oats, almond butter, brown sugar, baking powder, 3 egg whites, and chocolate chips. I mixed everything together until I had a uniform dough.

Then I spooned out small portions of the dough onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. I think it’s important to note that these cookies don’t change their shape much in the oven, so if you want round uniform cookies you should shape them by rolling them between your palms. However, I left mine natural-looking

Then I placed these in the oven and baked them for about 15-20 minutes or until they were firm and their edges started to brown.

Then I removed the cookies to a cooling rack and let them cool for a few ~~minutes~~ seconds before devouring one

These were delicious!!

Enjoyed with skim milk, of course.

I think that without the chocolate chips these cookies may have tasted too “healthy,” but because of the sweet, decadent chocolate chips (I used kind of a lot…woops!) they tasted awesome. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Almond Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe type: Cookies

Author: Adapted from Tina @ Carrots N Cake

Prep time: 3 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 18 mins

Serves: 12

These cookies are made healthier by the use of oats, almond butter, and egg whites. They are so delicious, you won’t be able to stop at just one!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almond butter
3 egg whites
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Add first five ingredients in a large bowl (through egg whites) and mix until well combined.
Add chocolate chips, and mix just until incorporated.
Spoon cookies out onto parchment paper and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies start to brown on the edges.

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I hope you enjoy these as much as I am!

So tell me, what’s your favorite kind of cookie? I really liked the almond butter flavor in these, but I bet they would have worked with peanut butter too (goodness knows I love peanut butter cookies). Yum!!

Also, have you ever tried hot yoga??

Wow. Just wait until you guys try this recipe. I mean really. Wow. Doesn’t the title say it all? But ok, more on that later.

Workout

Yesterday’s workout was nice and relaxing. I’m not even sure I would consider it a workout, but since I am trying to document any type of physical activity that I engage in, I will include it on here. Yesterday Fabio and I walked Jack up to the dog park and meandered around Arlington along the way. We took “the long way” to the park and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. At the dog park, Jack met another black lab mix, whose name was also Jack! Our Jack could not get enough of his twin and he followed him around the whole time.

After we got home from the park, we dropped off Jack and walked over to the store to pick up some groceries for the week (remember the aforementioned car trouble? That’s why we walked to the grocery store). Luckily there are a number of grocery stores within walking distance from our apartment so the walk wasn’t too bad. I’d say by the end of the day we probably walked around 3 miles. Not too bad for a lazy Sunday!

Recipe

Ok so now that I’ve bored you with my “exercise” from yesterday, it’s time for today’s recipe! A few weeks ago I saw this recipe for Reese’s Peanut Butter Banana Bread on Pinterest. Even though I knew it wasn’t healthy at all I couldn’t stop thinking about the delicious bread. By the end of last week we just happened to have three overly-ripe bananas. You could say it was a coincidence…or you could say that I purposely avoided eating them throughout the week just so that I could make this recipe over the weekend Winking smile . You tell me what you think happened!

So anyway, I decided to make this recipe on Sunday and I plan to have it as my dessert all this week. I honestly think it’s ok to indulge sometimes and just bake whatever treat you are craving, as long as you eat it in moderation. I made this banana bread because I knew otherwise I would never stop thinking about it and even if I made a lightened-up version I would have just been disappointed that it wasn’t the decadent chocolatey peanut-buttery version that I was dreaming of. So in the end, I made the bread and do not feel one bit guilty. I will eat the bread in small portions and only after eating healthy and exercising that day. My belief is that if you are constantly restricting your food choices you will never stick to a healthy diet. Anyway, enough talk! Here’s how to make it:

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan with butter or shortening. Then pour all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk until combined (I forgot to photograph this step- woops!). In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and mix until smooth. I used a fork first to mash the bananas and then switched to an electric mixer (no, I do not own a KitchenAid mixer…but one day I will!).

The mixture was pretty lumpy at first, but soon it was smooth.

Once the wet ingredients are combined, slowly add in your dry ingredients. The mixture should be lumpy, so I just used a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients.

Once all the dry ingredients are incorporated, you can add in your chocolate chips and pour the batter into your greased loaf pan.

Bake the yummy, delicious cake bread for one hour or until the top starts to brown. Let the bread cool for about 10 minutes (or impatiently cut into a piece before allowing it to cool and have it fall apart all over your plate like I did).

Eat a small portion (if you can…) with an ice cold glass of skim milk and you are set for dessert for the week! Hey, at least there’s some fruit in there right?? Winking smile

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Adopted from Cookies & Cups

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup oil (the bread was pretty moist so I might eliminate this next time)
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
About 1 cup of chocolate chips (I eyeballed it)
About 1 cup nuts (I omitted)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars (I used a fork first and then switched to an electric mixer).
Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter should be lumpy.
Fold in your chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hour or until top starts to brown.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes (if you can) before diving in.

Enjoy!