Book Review: Reshaping it All

I got two books for Christmas this year, and the first one I decided to read was Reshaping it All by Candace Cameron Bure.  I honestly just didn't feel like typing a review about it.  So I made a vlog for you all!

I may actually try to do book reviews like this in the New Year.  I felt like I was able to share more, and it was easy to do pretty much right after I finished reading the book.  This way, I don't seem to forget all of the brilliant things that I want to say about the book because I don't have time to write a post.  This was quick and easy!

I've decided to share this book with one of you!  I loved it, but to me, it's not one of those re-readable books.  Please remember, as I said in the video, my mom had a hard time finding this for me for Christmas.  So the book is large print, and it used to belong to a library somewhere.  But whatever, a book is a book, right?!   So anyway, please enter to win! :)

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Blueberry Spinach Smoothie

I can't even begin to tell you how long Scott and I have had frozen blueberries in the freezer.  When Scott and I went shopping at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago, I decided to pick up some fresh spinach.  It's a pretty large tub.  I like to toss it in with some zucchini and spaghetti sauce to use with pasta.

Mmmm....

Sorry.  I'm back.

I decided to try to find some blueberry spinach smoothie recipes.  Of course, I turned to Pinterest.  At first, I was looking for ones without yogurt since I don't keep it here in the house (because I don't like to eat it).  But then I broke down and picked up a tub of vanilla yogurt to try this recipe.

Blueberry Spinach Smoothie
Ingredients

• 3/4 c. frozen blueberries
• half of a banana*
• 1/2 c. spinach
• 1/4 c. yogurt
• 4 oz (1/2 c.) nonfat milk
• 1.5 tsp. honey
• 1 T flax seed
• 2 ice cubes

*My banana happened to be VERY ripe, but it doesn't have to be.  This was just another great excuse to use up over ripe bananas.  It probably also added a bit more sweetness than a less ripe banana.

Toss ingredients in a blender, and blend until well mixed.

Serves 1, serving size: approx. 1.5 cups

Calories: 271

Protein: 9.5g

We have a Magic Bullet-type blender with single serving cups.  This fit perfectly, and it's extra great because then I can just drink it out of the cup it's made in.  This was definitely quite yummy!  (You can trust me.  I'm super picky about healthy things, and the fact that I like this is a good sign!)  You can check out the original recipe here.  (I halved the recipe, and made a couple of changes.)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars

At the beginning of July, I shared that Scott and I broke down and joined a gym.  It was just something that we knew we needed to do to take care of ourselves.  We've tried at home workouts, but the problem is that for us, working out at home is just not motivating enough...or totally inconveniences someone when someone else gets up at 4 AM to hop around to Insanity while you're trying to sleep until 6.....

Anyway.

Having to pay for something is a pretty big motivator to get out of the house and go.  Scott told me the other day that he's tired of protein shakes, and he asked me to find some recipes for protein bars or muffins or some kind of snack to have after a work out.

And behold, the Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars were born.  The original recipe made peanut butter protein bars using vanilla protein powder.  Our local grocery store doesn't even sell protein powder, so while I was there picking up ingredients the other day, I figured that you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.  So I just decided to use the chocolate protein powder we had on hand.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. nonfat milk
• 1 c. Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
• 3 T honey
• 1 1/2 c. 100% Whey Protein Powder- Chocolate
• 2 c. regular oats (not quick cook)

1. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with wax paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Add milk, peanut butter, and honey to a sauce pan.

3. Over medium heat, stir milk, peanut butter, and honey until well combined.

4. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate protein powder.

5. Then stir in the oats.

6. Until it is all combined (and yes, this takes a little elbow grease!).

7. Transfer the mixture onto your wax paper-lined baking pan, and pat down.  (This is a super sticky and messy process, but it was pretty fun!)

8.  If you're a perfectionist like me, grab a spatula, spray it with a little cooking spray, and use it to form this into a more rectangular shape with a smooth top.  This will also help to make the bars more uniform in thickness.

9.  Allow the mixture to cool completely, and then cut into bars.

This was SOOOO easy!  It was incredibly similar to making no-bake cookies, but there was no butter, and no added sugar.  Even better--they TASTE like a no-bake cookie!  In my book, a healthy treat that tastes like something unhealthy is an absolute WIN in my book.

Because I am watching my calorie in-take, and Scott wanted a snack that was pretty close to 20g of protein, I did some math (ugh), and figured out the calories and protein for cutting these into 8 bars or 12.  I decided to cut my rectangle into thirds, and then each of those into fourths to make 12 bars, but if you want a slightly longer bar, just cut it in half and then into fourths.

For 8 Bars: 398 calories, 27.5g protein

For 12 Bars: 266 calories, 18.3g protein

While I was browsing for protein snacks, I also found some meals that were packed with protein.  Stay tuned for another recipe soon! :)

A Healthy-ish Snack

When I was doing a good job of trying to eat healthier, I decided to take a walnut/pecan mix of nuts to work as a snack.  The thing is....walnuts and pecans taste better in sweet desserts than alone. 

So I decided to take some of the healthy out of the snack and make it a little sweeter.  I'm not using exact measurements here because I pretty much just threw stuff together.  How much you will need depends on the amount of nuts that you use.

This picture shows the snack in a regular cereal bowl.  This was all that I made.

Sweet Walnut & Pecan Snack

Ingredients

• walnuts
• pecans
• butter
• brown sugar
• semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Dissolve brown sugar in the butter.
3. Place walnuts and pecans in a bowl with semi-sweet chocolate chips.
4. Pour butter mixture over nuts and chips.
5. Let cool and store in a sandwich bag for on the go snacking!

This was not overly sweet, but it gave the nuts a little something besides well...nothing.  Enjoy! :)

Dinner Time Tuesday 5/21

Ok.  I realize that the last time I posted was Dinner Time Tuesday last week.  Please forgive me.  Before I share some dinner, here are my excuses for slacking in blog land.

Last week, though I shared it on Tuesday, I had dinner on Monday with Kristin and her husband.  I came home, and quickly assembled last week's post because I was so excited about it.  Tuesday night was the Ice Cream Social for the Kindergarten through 3rd grade students at my school.  Long story short, students who demonstrate good behavior and excellent grades get invited to the ice cream social with their families.  I was the main person in charge, and by the time I got home, I was EXHAUSTED.  (AKA...I came home and went to bed.)  I don't really have a good excuse for Wednesday other than just being tired.  On Thursday, I came home and Scott and I took care of some garbage in the garage.  On Friday, I headed to Rochester, New York with two friends from work for an amazing professional development conference about The Daily 5.  It's a teaching structure that is just wonderful.  (Teachers look it up!)  That was all day Saturday plus traveling home.  Then I was gone with my parents and brother to a surprise 50th birthday party on Sunday.

Truth be told, I'm writing this on Monday night. 

If that doesn't sound busy to you....*whew*  I don't know how YOU do it!  :)

Here's a yummy (but healthy!) dinner for you today:

I've shared that I've had chicken salad before.  Usually, that includes french fries.  I was a good girl this time, and kept the fries in the freezer. 

This salad is green leaf lettuce and spinach leaves, 1 chicken breast tender, some chopped up baby carrots, a small handful of croutons, and some poppyseed dressing.  I realize I could probably eliminate the croutons and use a low fat dressing of some sort.  But what fun is that.

Life is too short to not have croutons on your salad.

Menu Planning Monday 4/22

I wish I could say that I was doing better with Menu Planning. 

I'm not.

I don't even think I have any excuses or reasons why.  The meals we have been eating are small simple enough, that they can be put together pretty quickly without a lot of thought.  BUT Elizabeth and Jane said that it doesn't always have to be a weekly meal plan!  We can share recipes.  So here's a healthy take on a chicken salad sandwich that I tried last week, courtesy of Dorothy at Crazy For Crust!

Avacado Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Original Recipe from Crazyforcrust.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked chicken (We buy canned chicken from Sam's Club that I always use for chicken salad.  I used 1 can.)
• 1 medium avacado
• 1/2 c. plain, non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. salsa
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• Pita bread

1. Peel the flesh off of the avacado and mash.  (Dorothy said to use a potato masher.  We don't have one.  I'm not sure why....anyway, I used a fork.)

 

2. Add the yogurt, salsa, salt, & pepper, and stir.

3. Then add the chicken and stir to combine.

4. Serve on a whole wheat pita or whatever bread you choose.  :)  I had mine with a little salsa and tortilla chips.

Dinner Plate: Celebrating Home, Simply Summer Collection

Also sharing at Mostly Homemade Mondays.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

I've been scouring the internet lately looking for healthier alternatives to things that I really love.  I prefer to think of our new lifestyle changes as getting healthy rather than dieting.  With that being said, life is short, and food is good.  I don't want to give up all of the good things (that might also be bad for me), and I certainly don't like the idea of denying myself something that I really want or crave!

I don't do well with breakfasts like eggs.  I'd rather eat an omlet or scrambled eggs for lunch or dinner.  It takes me FOREVER to eat cereal in the morning for some reason, and it can also be time consuming to drink breakfast in the form of a shake.  Muffins sounded like a good idea, and so I Googled "healthy muffin recipes" and found this one.  I thought this would be a good breakfast option for me.  I share how it went for me below. 

And now, I bring you......

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. warm water
• 1/4 olive oil
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 c. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, divided

1. Preheat the oven to 400* F.
2.Spoon flour into measuring cups and level with a knife. 
3. Using a whisk, combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. In another bowl, combine water, olive oil, red wine vinegar, vanilla extract, & egg. 
5. Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients and add 1/4 c. of the mini chocolate chips.  Stir until just moist.

6. Place cup liners in muffin pan, and spray with cooking spray.  Divide batter evenly among cups.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 c. of mini chocolate chips on top of the batter.

 

Turns out I only had 9 liners left... :)  They all came out just fine.

7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

 

 I was glad to discover that these were pretty good.  According to the website, the serving size is 1 muffin, and each muffin has 191 calories.  They aren't as sweet as you might expect with all of that chocolate, but do keep in mind that brown sugar is the only sugar used, and the cocoa is unsweetened.

Overall, I'm pretty happy to have these as an option for breakfast or a snack for a bit.  :)

Dinner Time Tuesday 4/16: Healthy Fries

I was so excited last week.  There were people besides me who linked up for Dinner Time Tuesday!  :)  Thanks Kristin & Kristin.  (P.S. I love that they both have the same name AND it's spelled the same AND they're people I've met IRL.)

All excitement aside, please feel free to grab the Dinner Time Tuesday button.  Follow me, and link back to the post!  Most importantly, post your link to the link up at the bottom!

Here's what I had for dinner:

Scott and I have decided to try making healthier choices overall, and trying to stick to using foods suggested in the Insanity meal plan.  This incorporated both ideas.  This is a "Lean Burger" as insanity calls it.  It's 80/20 lean ground beef.  I seasoned it with salt, pepper, onion powder, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.  (Yes, I had to look up how to spell that...)  It is on a whole wheat English Muffin.

I made my own fries thanks to inspiration from my friend, Suzanne at Not Enough Chocolate.  She's doing a series of posts called "Small Changes."  One of those posts mentioned the weird ingredients in frozen fries.  She started making her own, and not just with potatoes!  I decided to take this healthier approach, as well.  I just cut up some fries, drizzled them with olive oil, and baked them at 400* F for about 45 minutes.  Then I lightly salted them.  SOOOOO yummy! 

So there you have it!  A perfectly normal American meal done in a much healthier way!