Frozen “Reeses” Banana Bites

Aug 022012

Hey there! Happy Thursday to you all

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the week already! It has been flying by for me. This is mostly due to the fact that I have been really busy at work (ugh) but at least it has been because of “fun” stuff (fun being a relative term. Obviously).

Anyway, I owe you guys a couple of updates. First, I mentioned to you back in the beginning of July that I was finally going to the dentist. Well, I had my appointment on Tuesday, and guess what?

It was totally fine! I don’t know what I was so worried about. I just got a normal teeth cleaning and a happy report that I was cavity-free (yay!!). I guess the dentist isn’t that scary after all? I do have to go back another day to get my teeth polished because the machine was broken, but that shouldn’t be a big deal. Now that I’ve conquered my dental phobia, it seems silly that I was ever afraid in the first place (you’re judging me aren’t you?).

Bootcamp Update

I am still goin’ strong with Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp! I wound up skipping a day of the workouts (due to the unforeseen happy hour and personal training session- more on that in a minute) but I am planning to still complete all the workouts for the week, even if it means I’m a day behind. After all, the plan is all about making it work for you, so it’s been just fine

One move I really struggled with this week is a squat that you do on the bosu, ball-side down. It looks a little like this:

[Source]

Only you use small weights and keep your arms by your sides. Then you squat on the ball. Last week when I tried this move, I was shaking horrifically back and forth. It was like I had jelly legs and I couldn’t get my balance on that upside-down ball. It was crazy! I was so embarrassed (plus I was in the room full of guys weight training) that I sort of gave up and just did regular squats with weights. Ugh.

However, this week I was determined to tackle this damn wobbly ball. So, I took the bosu ball outside (I love that my gym allows you to take equipment outside, btw) and stood next to a large pole. Then I slooooooowly tried squatting on the ball and used the pole for balance if I started to get shaky. It worked! Having the pole there was a huge help, and by the end of the superset I hardly needed it. Now for next week, I’ll have to start adding the weights back in. Wish me luck!

In other workout updates (sheesh, so many things to talk about today) I had my meeting with the personal trainer. Just as I predicted, I had to do a “fitness test,” which was made more awkward by the fact that I knew this personal trainer in college.

In the middle of seeing how many push ups I could do in a minute, for example, he would ask me which sorority I was in, where I lived my senior year of college, and if I knew his little sister. While they were all seemingly simple questions, it was not easy to answer him while sweat was dripping off my face and I was trying to keep good form during my push-ups.

Uh, hello, can we save the small talk for later??

But anyway, the session itself was pretty basic. We went over my current workout routine and discussed my goals and then did a very short HIIT circuit. While it did feel great to do his circuit (which reminded me a lot of Insanity, which I am weirdly starting to miss) it did not feel great enough to warrant signing up and paying his ridiculous price tag. No thank you.

Recipe

So, my office has done a Terrible Awful Thing (yes, this is a nod to The Help). Since the beginning of July, they started stocking the freezer with free ice cream. While I could normally resist the urge to gobble down a huge cone, every once in a while I would cave in and enjoy a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich or Weight Watchers fudge pop (my office is mostly women- can you tell?). No big deal, right? However, this week they put something Terrible Awful in the freezers.

[Source]

Snickers Ice Cream Bars. Ahhh!!! The horror! They are so delicious, chocolatey, and peanutty and filled with 180 calories, 11g of fat, and 15g of sugar. And they are free and available whenever I want one. NOOOO.

I was able to abstain from eating one during the day yesterday, but I immediately ran home to make something reminiscent of the peanutty chocolatey goodness. And thus I give you, Frozen “Resses” Banana Bites. Yum!

These are a treat that I used to make all time (after seeing them on Pinterest about a year ago…yes I was an early adopter of Pinterest back when no one else had it) and have loved them ever since. I’ve actually had this recipe for longer than I have been reading blogs, so I can’t remember where I found the original recipe (sorry!) but if you think you know who the originator of this gem is please let me know, as they are a genius and deserve all the credit they can get. Here’s how they came together…

First I took two bananas that needed to be used up and chopped them into bite-size pieces.

As you can see, I cut my pieces pretty small and was able to get about 11 chunks out of each banana.

Then I added chocolate chips and peanut butter to a microwave-safe container, and heated it on high for one minute. Then I stirred everything up.

Then I dropped the banana pieces into the peanut-buttery chocolate and used a spoon to coat all the sides.

Then I shook off any extra chocolate and moved the bananas to a cookie sheet lined with wax paper (I used my fingers to place the bananas on the cookie sheet, so you can see some thumb prints in the pictures. I wasn’t bothered by it, but if you are, you can use a toothpick or the spoon to drop the bananas onto the sheet.)

See my finger prints? lol

Then I popped the entire cookie sheet into the freezer (balancing it precariously on top of all the other stuff in my freezer, of course) for about an hour until the chocolate was set and the bananas started to freeze.

At this point you can pop them into ~~your mouth~~ a tupperware container where they will last in the freezer for quite a while (is it gross that I’ve kept them in there for longer than two weeks? Yes? Oh well. Truth.)

Yummmm. These are the perfect little bite-sized desserts for when your sweet tooth is wreaking havoc in your diet. Plus, they have protein from the peanut butter and potassium from the bananas. So they’re practically healthy, right? Ok, maybe not. But they are small and perfect for portion control, and way better for you than eating an entire Snickers ice cream bar. As long as you can limit yourself to just one, that is

Yum!!

Frozen “Reeses” Banana Bites

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 5 mins

Total time: 5 mins

Serves: 20

These frozen bananas dipped in a peanut butter chocolate mixture will knock your socks off! They are so delicious it will be hard to stop at just one!

Ingredients

2 large bananas
1/4 to 1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 to 1/3 cup natural peanut butter

Instructions

Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper
Cut bananas into bite-size chunks, about 10 per banana
Add chocolate chips and peanut butter to a microwave-safe bowl
Heat on high for one minute, then stir until smooth
Dip banana bites into chocolate mixture until fully-coated
Shake off excess chocolate
Move bananas to the cookie sheet
Freeze for about an hour, then transfer to tupperware

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So tell me, what are your favorite types of ice cream? Obviously the packaged kind in my office is fine, but I also loooove vanilla soft-serve with rainbow sprinkles. Cookie dough is a serious contender as well. Then there’s always my favorite fro-yo, which has got to be original (I like the tart ones) topped with fruit. YUM YUM YUM.

Light Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Recipes 4 Responses »

Jul 032012

Hi everyone! Wana know how my morning went? See if you can guess from this picture…

Plus, see the caution tape in the background? Well, there are a whole bunch of huge trees on the ground back there (the green leaves directly to the right of the brick building aren’t just a big bush- that’s a fallen tree), and I think there are a lot of important power-related things in that area. I am also worried that the sign says “Line down,” not “Power down,” making me think that it still might be quite a while before any electricity starts showing up in my home

So basically, we had another sleepless evening in my apartment last night tossing and turning in the heat. Plus the fridge is starting to smell and even though I was avoiding cleaning it out until the power came back on, I think I need to suck it up and do it today. Also, at one point last night Jack started breathing really hard (so loudly that it woke me up) and then I was so worried that he was overheated. We had given him a bath in the cold water earlier in the evening, but it had been hours since we did that and I was really worried he was too hot. So even though it was the middle of the night, Fabio, Jack, and I went out to sit in the car and enjoy the AC.

Luckily a lot of my coworkers got their power back sometime yesterday, so I am really hoping mine will come on soon. Please cross your fingers for me!

Workout

Because it’s been so hot without AC, my workouts have been suffering this week. I was able to run with Jack yesterday morning, but after seeing him pant extremely hard for about 15 minutes afterword, I decided to skip his run today and walk instead. Similarly, instead of running to the dog park, we walked (two miles there and back). Also without the DVD player I can’t do my regular Insanity DVDs. I try to tell myself that at least we are moving, but to be honest I am frustrated and just want my regular exercise routine back. Tonight I’m going to do some strength and core exercises so at least that will be something. I may also go for a run without Jack, but then I feel guilty leaving him cooped up in the hot apartment. We will see!

However, I did do one exciting workout-related thing today… I signed up for Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp which will run from July 23 – September 16 (Yay!).

It cost me $25 and all the moves can be completed either at home or at a gym. If you read my blog regularly you’ll know I don’t currently belong to a gym because I have a bunch of DVD workouts (and a small budget). However, I would consider joining one if I think it will make the program easier/more fun. Plus, I’ve been missing classes a lot recently and have been thinking of getting back to a gym. We will see how it goes!

Recipe

Thankfully I did a little baking last week so I have a great recipe to share with you guys today, despite the power outage! Yay for planning ahead! This recipe came about when I saw these two mushy brown bananas sitting in my fruit basket. I realized no one was going to eat them and it was time to use them for a baking project! Yay!

I looked through my refrigerator and realized I also had some fat free plain yogurt (I thought it was Greek yogurt at the store but it was really regular. That’s why it was so much cheaper! Duh!). I have been trying to use up this yogurt as quickly as possible so I can go back and get the Greek yogurt I intended to buy, and I thought a nice banana muffin recipe would help

After Googling a few recipes, I came across this light peanut butter banana muffin recipe from A Full Measure of Happiness. It looked like a great recipe (and blog!) so I happily tried it out.

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I mashed the two ripe bananas in a bowl using a fork. Next I added peanut butter, honey, fat free plain yogurt, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, I mixed together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Then I slowly added the dry ingredients to the wet and mixed everything up until it was just combined.

Then I placed liners in a muffin pan and sprayed them lightly with nonstick spray.

Next I spooned out the muffin mixture into the cups until they were about 3/4 full. Then I sprinkled the tops with a tiny bit more cinnamon and popped them into the oven. I cooked them for about 15 minutes, or until the tops were set and slightly brown.

I let them cool before removing them from the pan and enjoying one with an ice cold glass of skim milk.

Yum!

These muffins are the perfect balance between peanut butter and bananas; neither flavor overwhelms the other. Plus they have a good amount of protein from the peanut butter and kept me full a long time. They also have only a little sugar and no oils or eggs. So far I’ve had one every morning since the power went out and I’m not sick of them yet! They are such an easy grab-and-go snack!

Light Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Recipe type: Muffin

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats/ A Full Measure of Happiness

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 12

These lightened-up muffins are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast treat for a busy weekday morning.

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter (reduced fat or natural)
2/3 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (could use wheat flour but I didn’t have any)
Cinnamon sugar for topping (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mash bananas in a large bowl with a fork.
Add in peanut butter, honey, yogurt, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Whisk or sift until well-incorporated.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, mixing until just combined.
Place liners in a muffin sheet and lightly spray with nonstick pray.
Spoon muffin mixture into pan until 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tops are set and light brown.

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These muffins were great! Please let me know if you try them!

Now tell me, what’s your grab-and-go breakfast of choice? I like English muffins topped with nut butter and bananas. Yum!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies

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May 152012

Healthy cookies can be kind of hit or miss for me. I’ve attempted a few recipes before, but usually I wound up feeling disappointed in the flavor or texture and threw them out in the end (not true for my one minute peanut butter cookies, but those only serve one person).

But what’s a girl to do when she has two mushy, brown bananas? I would have liked to make some chocolate peanut butter banana bread, but that requires three mushy bananas, not two. Thankfully I turned to Julie’s website where I remembered seeing a healthy cookie recipe that she recently posted involving peanut butter, oatmeal, and two ripe bananas! Perfect! Last night I had all those ingredients on hand and the bananas were getting gross, so I pulled out my mixer and got to work.

First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Then I mashed the two bananas in a bowl until they were soft. They were pretty lumpy still, but since they would be mashed more with the mixer I didn’t mind.

I added the bananas to a large bowl along with some peanut butter, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, and an egg. I mixed everything up until it was smooth. In a separate bowl I combined oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I mixed all the dry ingredients together really thoroughly because I hate the bitter taste of baking soda, which you can sometimes taste if it’s not mixed properly.

When the dry ingredients were well combined, I slowly poured them into the bowl with the wet ingredients and used my mixer to stir everything up (I was initially concerned because the batter was pretty wet, but it all firmed up in the oven).

I used a spoon to drop the cookies onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and baked them for about 10 minutes. I had to make my cookies pretty large since I only have two cookie sheets, but I definitely would have liked to make them smaller and use another tray.

The scent of banana wafting through my kitchen was heavenly. Yum!!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Adapted from Peanut Butter Fingers)

Yields two dozen large cookies or three dozen small cookies

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Mash bananas, and mix with peanut butter, vegetable oil and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir well.
Slowly mix oat mixture into banana mixture until everything is combined.
Spoon dough onto cookie sheet and bake for approximately 10 – 12 minutes.

These cookies were moist and delicious! Be warned that although they are made from relatively healthy ingredients, you should not start chowing down on these like they are raw carrots. They should still be treated like a cookie and you should only indulge when your sweet tooth is ravaging. I just think they are a nice alternative to decadent buttery chocolate chip cookies, for example

Oh, and happy National Chocolate Chip Day! I’m going to celebrate by….er…eating peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies instead? Lol.

One Minute Peanut Butter Cookie

Recipes 3 Responses »

May 032012

OMG. I just ate the most glorious thing. Like, seriously, I could eat this every single day. Plus it’s literally the easiest thing on the planet to make. I’m not kidding; it really can be made in a minute. YOU MUST TRY THIS! But ok, first things first.

Workout

Today’s workout was a great one! As I mentioned earlier today, this morning’s run with Jack and Fabio was refreshing. I had plenty of energy after getting to bed early last night and was ready to tackle my run. I wish every morning was like that!

After work I was originally planning to jog to the dog park with Jack since it was so nice out, but after realizing that it was actually 86 degrees and Jack was panting from just laying around the apartment, I figured we better drive instead. I took him up there to let him run around for a while, and then came home and took on another Insanity DVD. Tonight I did Pure Cardio which is the one DVD that doesn’t repeat the circuits or have water breaks, you just do each move for one minute and then switch to the next one. It’s always a hard workout but since I never know how many moves are left I think the time passes by faster. That’s fine with me!

As a side note, when I tried to put up my hair before my workout I couldn’t find my usual hair tie so I just used a smaller one. Toward the end of my workout it fell out and my ponytail came tumbling down. I only had a few minutes left and was really into it so I let my hair fly around my face. Although it was quite annoying, my workout finally ended and I was able to fix my hair. It looked wild!

Does this happen to anyone else? I probably should have just fixed my hair huh? Oh well! It was a great workout regardless!

My recipe for today doesn’t involve my dinner but I’ll show you what I had anyway:

Grilled chicken with BBQ sauce, cooked carrots, and leftover quinoa. We are seriously low of veggies right now so my choices were carrots or yellow squash that was starting to feel rather squishy…er I’ll take the carrots please! It was a good and simple dinner and since Fabio was at happy hour with some friends it worked for me!

Recipe

I saw this recipe on Carrots ‘N’ Cake while procrastinating surfing the web doing important research at work Winking smile It looked so easy and I immediately put it on my “to make” list. I’ve tried out the whole “single lady” cookie thing before and never thought it tasted that good, but this recipe was slightly different so I wanted to try it out. WOAH. IT IS DELICIOUS!!!! It has a nice cakey consistency and gets pretty big as it cooks so you feel like you’re getting a huge decadent dessert instead of a quick week-night treat. You gotta try this one!

First I mixed peanut butter, light brown sugar, oats, and egg white in a microwave-safe bowl.

Next I mixed everything up until it was well combined and put it into the microwave for 60 seconds. When it came out of the microwave, I drizzled it with a little light chocolate syrup and enjoyed it with a nice cold glass of skim milk.

SO GOOD! It kinda reminded me of those Warm Delights pre-packaged things you can buy and just add water, but it was so much better and didn’t have any scary ingredients or a weird mushy texture.

One Minute Peanut Butter Cookie (adapted from Carrots ‘N’ Cake)

Makes 1 cookie

Ingredients

2 tbsp. peanut butter
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tsp. oats
Whites of 1 egg
Light chocolate syrup (optional)

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and mix well.
Try to form the mixture into a cookie shape.
Cook in microwave for 60 seconds.
Drizzle with light chocolate syrup if desired.
Allow to cool and enjoy!

Has anyone else eaten those Warm d=Delights before? I used to eat them in college when my dorm had no kitchen and we all shared a microwave in the common room. They actually really gross me out now so I’m really glad this cookie didn’t have that consistency! Bleh!

Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Bites

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Apr 272012

Happy Friday everyone! Woooo! I’ll keep this post short as I have a lot to do before my friends come tonight, but I promised I’d share these three ingredient peanut butter bites with you, and I can’t break a promise!

Workout

So far today my workout has only included my one-mile morning jog with Jack. I am hoping to try one of my new 10 Minute Trainer DVDs after dinner but I haven’t gotten to that yet. I’m still not sure how I feel about the 10 Minute Trainer routines so I’m hoping to give them another shot tonight. I’ll let you guys know!

Recipe

Now this recipe is not anything too mind-boggling. After reading this, you probably won’t say, “I wish I had thought of that!” In fact you probably have all of these ingredients hanging out in your pantry already and may have even tried them together before.

However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t fantastic. They are THE easiest things in the world to create and taste amazing. I could devour a whole batch of these in one sitting if I wasn’t concerned about looking good in a bikini next month. Here’s what you need in order to make these peanut butter bites:

That’s it! I wasn’t joking when I said “three ingredients!” All I did to make these was pull out my food processor, dump in some oats, peanut butter, and nutella.

Then I pulsed everything in the food processor until it was well combined and made a “dough.”

Then I used a spoon to roll the dough into bite-sized balls and put them on a plate. The plate then went into the freezer for about 30 minutes or until the bites were firm (a cookie sheet would work better if you have that much room in your freezer).

And that’s it! Easy right? Plus they are so chocolately and peanut buttery that they make the perfect after-dinner dessert (just be sure to limit yourself to just one).

Once they were frozen I moved them to a Tupperware container and put them back in the freezer, although you could probably also just store them in the fridge. Yummmmm!

Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Bites

Ingredients

1 cup oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup nutella

Instructions

Dump oats, peanut butter, and nutella into food processor and pulse for a few minutes until everything is combined and forms a dough.
Use a spoon to form dough into bites and place on a cookie sheet or plate.
Move cookie sheet/plate into the freezer for about 30 minutes, or until hardened.
Store bites in air-tight container in the freezer or fridge.

Let me know what you think if you try these! They are soooo easy to make and taste kind of like Resse’s Sticks or a Butterfinger Smile My favorite!!

Peanut Butter Granola

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Apr 232012

Good evening! I hope the rest of your day turned out well. For a cold, rainy, Monday mine wasn’t too bad.

Workout

Today’s workout was not the best, however given the circumstances I suppose it could have been worse. This morning Fabio and I woke up nice and early to head out for our run with Jack. I looked at my iPhone for the weather report and it indicated that not only was it raining, but it was also 45 degrees and “feels like 36.” 36?! It’s almost May! It is not supposed to feel like it’s 36 degrees out! Since there was obviously nothing we could do about the weather we sucked it up, bundles ourselves in winter jackets we had already tucked away in the back of the closet, and ran with Jack. As usual it wasn’t too bad once we got moving but that cold air really made me want to crawl back under the covers. BRRRR!

This afternoon’s run was not too successful either. I knew we needed groceries (if nothing else we really need milk for cereal) so our plan was to run up to the dog park, stop by Trader Joes, and walk home. I was then planning to do Insanity inside since it was so cold out. Unfortunately I got out of work late today an didn’t arrive home until around 7:00. This means by the time we ran to the dog park, got groceries, and walked home it was already 8:00 and Insanity was just not happening. I feel disappointed that I didn’t get a better workout in today, but running 2 miles is better than running none! And tomorrow is another day.

Recipe

Yesterday I was hanging out at home and feeling restless. I wanted to experiment in the kitchen but didn’t know what to make! Of course this caused me to turn to my favorite blog, Peanut Butter Fingers, where I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Granola. It looked so easy and delicious that I couldn’t wait to try it out!

The first time I try out a recipe I try to make it exactly as the original author recommends, and then I play with the ingredients the next time I make it. Below you will see how I made the recipe, along with some suggestions for what I will do differently next time. This recipe was really delicious and now I have yummy peanut butter granola to much on all week! Success!

First I preheated the oven to 325 degrees. Next I scooped the peanut butter out into a small bowl and squirted the honey on top (such a fancy term huh? “I squirted the honey” lol).

The bowl then went into the microwave for a few seconds until the peanut butter was melted and could easily be mixed up with the honey. Once it was melted I added the vanilla and the cinnamon. While I liked the vanilla and cinnamon flavor ok, I think next time I would play around with the spices. The cinnamon had a really strong flavor so I think I would use less of it or eliminate it all together. I also thought about adding some nutella to the peanut butter mix but I in the end decided against it. If I were too add the nutella I’d want to cut the peanut butter amount in half and eliminate the honey and cinnamon all together. The fun thing about this recipe is you can add anything you want! For this time though, I wanted to try it out as Julie (the creator) intended it.

Anyway, once the wet ingredients were mixed up, I added them to a large bowl and mixed in the oats. I’m thinking mine could have used a little bit more of the peanut butter mixture, although that’s probably my fault for not measuring precisely.

At this point I was also thinking some chopped almonds would be good in here. Maybe with some raisins. Yummm. However since I didn’t actually have either of those things on hand, those obviously are going to have to wait until next time. With the nutella. Maybe not all at once…raisins + nutella? Gross.

Once the mixture was combined I poured it onto a greased cookie sheet and baked for about 10 minutes or until the granola started to brown. I let it cool for about half an hour but I don’t think you need to wait this long (I just happened to leave it on the counter and got distracted by something else Smile with tongue out ). Just wait until the texture is actually crunchy before you start eating it.

Once it was cool I transferred the granola to a zip-lock bag for easy storage. Now I have a yummy snack to munch on throughout the week! Woohoo!!

Peanut Butter Granola (via Peanut Butter Fingers)

Ingredients

2 tbsp. peanut butter (I eyeballed it)
2 tbsp. honey (I eyeballed it)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I’d use a little less next time)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup oats
Other options: raisins, chopped nuts, nutella (minus the cinnamon), other dried fruit

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
Combine peanut butter and honey in a small bowl. Microwave for a few seconds until peanut butter is melted.
Stir in cinnamon and vanilla.
Pour melted peanut butter mixture into a large bowl.
Fold in oats. Stir until everything is coated (could add dried fruit or chopped nuts here).
Pour oat mixture onto greased cookie sheet and distribute evenly. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes or until granola starts to brown.
Allow granola to cool completely (should be crunchy) and enjoy!

Elvis-inspired Breakfast Sandwich

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Apr 232012

Good afternoon! I hope your day is going well despite the fact that 1. It’s Monday 2. It’s cold 3. It’s rainy 4. It’s Monday.

Well, to cheer you up I decided to give you this extra post today which will highlight my breakfast and lunch (both of which were amazing). Why am I adding an extra post you may ask? Here’s what I was thinking. My evening posts are always really long since they cover my workout for the entire day and a full recipe with step-by-step photos. By the time I am done writing it I never really get around to talking about anything fun. I figure if you made it all the way down to the end of my post you probably don’t really want to stick around to read about additional health topics. Am I right?

So, what’s the solution? I’m going to add afternoon posts! They will sometimes feature my breakfast and/or lunch recipes, but sometimes they will just have random thoughts or tips on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. There will still be a regular post in the evenings with my workout and a recipe. Sound good? Mmmkay so…

Recipe

Here’s what I ate for breakfast.

Can you guess what I made with this? I think it’s pretty obvious…

Yummmm! It was so easy to make and kept me full all morning. Plus I was able to get fiber from the Thomas’ English Muffins (Light multi-grain kind), potassium and Vitamin C from the banana, and protein and heart-healthy fats from the peanut butter. And the organic honey…well, it’s supposed to be good for allergies right? Anyway, for consistency’s sake here’s how you make this yummy breakfast although it’s really not a recipe at all.

Ingredients

1 Thomas’ Light English Muffin
1 tbsp. peanut butter (I like using reduced fat or all natural but all we have at the moment is regular creamy since it was on sale)
1/2 banana, sliced
1/2 tsp. honey

Instructions

Slice English muffin in half and lightly toast.
Spread peanut butter on toasted muffin.
Place sliced bananas evenly over the surface of the muffin.
Drizzle honey on top.

(see I told you it wasn’t really a recipe…oh well!)

Lunch

Today’s lunch was really different and delicious. See, I usually pack my lunch and bring it to work with me so that a) I can save money and b) I can eat healthy foods I prepare myself. However, imagine my surprise when I got to work this morning and realized my lunch was not in my bag as I expected but conveniently sitting in my refrigerator where I left it. Wah!! So what did I do? I could have gone to Pret, Subway, or Potbelly’s like I usually do when I don’t bring a lunch, but today I wanted something different. Different but still healthy. I turned to Twitter and tweeted to Lisa over at DininginDC.net. She instantly tweeted back and recommended Java Green Cafe. It was only two blocks away from my work and somehow I’d never been! Crazy!

I looked up the menu online which explained it was an Asian-inspired vegetarian cafe serving up tons of veggie and vegan options. Sign me up! I headed over and purchased the Chick’n Java sandwich. It was made with soy chickn’, roasted red pepper, spinach, organic provolone cheese, veg-mayo, and Chili Java. Here’s what it looked like:

Thank you so much Lisa for recommending Java Green to me! I will definitely be a returning customer!

See you all later tonight with my workout summary and a recipe. Any ideas for Meatless Monday?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Recipes 1 Response »

Apr 172012

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!