Bake Sale Sneak Peek

Peanut Butter and Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies (wow that's a mouth full)!!

I made these cookies again, to make sure they were as good as I remembered. They are closer to a muffin top texture than a crispy cookie. They are a great breakfast cookie, if you don't mind a little chocolate in the morning.

These cookies include peanut butter, bananas, oats, whole wheat flour, egg whites, chocolate chips, sugar, salt, and baking powder. The bananas replace the oil. So the peanut butter is the only fat (and I use all natural, no sugar or salt added peanut butter). These cookies are huge, the size of a muffin top, but that is how my husband likes them.

Here is a close up:

Hopefully you bid on them in Meghann's bake sale on February 9th. If you have any questions about them, please ask!

Have a great Friday and GO STEELERS : )

Chocolate Craving!

I covered yesterday's oatmeal with so many berries that you can't see the oatmeal!! The oatmeal contained 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp almond butter, and water as needed.

Around 11am I had some veggies and hummus.

I had packed a really nice lunch of homemade minestrone that I made in the crock pot on Sunday, but I was in a chocolate mood!! I went to the GNC across the street from my office and bought a Chocolate Clif Builder Bar and a nonfat triple shot mocha from Starbucks. That really hit the spot, and now I already have a lunch waiting for me at the office for today.

For dinner my husband picked up Pita Pit before he went to his MBA classes so he dropped a falafal with all the veggies (except onions) off at my work.

Off to work. I hope to try to practice the Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that I am making for Meghann's bake sale, because I haven't made them since July. Maybe I'll have time Wednesday or Thursday.

I'd rather pack my lunch.

Breakfast: Fage mixed with 2 tbsp chocolate protein powder, fresh berries, and some organic honey nut oat cereal.

I really thought my breakfast would keep me full until lunch, but I needed a before lunch snack. I had two lightly salted rice cakes with all natural peanut butter. I actually like the idea of eating 5-6 times a day, but today I knew I was eating out lunch, so I was hoping to not have snacks.

For lunch my husband and I went to a restaurant called Eleven. Eleven's menu states "As an integral part of ELEVEN’s mission to provide an exquisite fine dining experience, we pursue the freshest and highest quality seasonal ingredients. In this pursuit, we rely on a phenomenal group of local farmers as well as incredible producers from around the country. This enables us to provide you, our guest, with an unparalleled culinary experience."

I ended up happy that I had a snack, because for lunch I had a rather small serving of winter root vegetable soup (it was in a broth, not creamy) and the Local Baby Lettuces which is topped with pomegranate vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds, pecans, and raisin bread croutons. I loved the salad so much, but it was so small. Really there were 5 pieces of lettuce, and it cost $9. This place is uber expensive for the portion sizes. So for Soup and Salad it was $17. That just seems a little pricey for lunch, especially when it barely fills you up.

We were going to have dessert, but it took us 45 minutes to get our lunch served, so we ran out of time! I stopped and picked up a nonfat mocha on the walk back to the office.

My husband and I worked out before dinner. We did 1 hour of upper body weights and then I ran 3 miles.

Dinner: A Boca burger on a Arnold's Sandwich thin topped with some Trader Joe's Bruchetta and a side of leftover potatoes and yams and some peas.

After dinner snack: a chocolate chip Zbar and a spoonful of Dark Chocolate Dreams.

Happy Friday!!

Better Safe than Sorry!

I just read that they had Obama retake the Oath of Office, just in case the words were mixed up. I must say that only lawyers would try to argue that the president wasn't the president because he switched a couple of words in the presidential oath. Well I guess in this situation, it is better safe than sorry.

I have loved having smoothies for breakfast, so I'm sorry to bore you with another.

For my morning snack I had almond butter and an apple.

Around lunch time I met my husband for a tall nonfat latte. After spending time chatting with my husband, I returned to my office for my lunch. I had frozen vegetables, a Boca burger, and some bruchetta from Trader Joe's. While this was a yummy lunch, the work microwave made some parts super hot and other parts still a little frozen.

For my afternoon snack I had some almonds and some sugar-snap peas.

When I got home I had some fruit, while dinner was cooking.

For dinner I made mini impossible pies, some roasted asparagus, potatoes, and yams. I loved how the mini impossible pies turned out.

2/3 cup Heart Healthy Bisquick

3/4 cup egg whites

1/2 cup skim milk

spinach

mushrooms

salt and pepper

I used a 6 count muffin tin. I mixed all of the ingredients together and then poured them in the muffin tin, which I sprayed well with cooking spray. I sprinkled a little cheese on the top of each. Then I baked in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Here is the close up of the mini impossible pies.

I may go snack on some more fruit. Goodnight:)

Larabar Peanut Butter Recal

Larabar has voluntarily recalled its peanut butter cookie larabar and PB Blisscrisp Jamfrakas. Find the details out here: https://www.larabar.com/secure/index_.php or at the FDA's website. Also, Nature's Path recalled Peanut Butter Optimum Energy Bars and there are several Clif and Luna bars that have been recalled.

"Time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit"

Breakfast: Smoothie with milk, yogurt, frozen berries, and protein powder.

Snack 1: an orange and 1/4 cup walnuts

Lunch: 1 tomato, celery, 1 hard boiled egg, and 2 hard boiled egg whites, with Dijon mustard and homemade Dijon dressing

Also with lunch I had snap peas

Snack 2: I had to travel to another county today to meet with a client, around 3:30 I stopped and bought a nonfat latte. In my last few weeks of eating clean I have learned to have plain tea, with no added artificial sweeteners. So while I used to eat sugar free vanilla lattes, I have learned from eating clean that I enjoy a latte plain. I'm not sure if caffeine is clean eating, but I'm proud to know that I can enjoy a latte without added sweetness.

With my latte I had one of the homemade protein bars that I made the last couple weeks, although when I made them this time I added fresh blueberries.

Gym time: 3 miles running on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer.

Dinner: For dinner I had a vegetarian sloppy joe recipe from the cookbook FIX-IT and FORGET-IT LIGHTLY : Healthy, Low-Fat Recipes for Your Slow Cooker. I followed the recipe from that cookbook except I omitted the onion soup mix (because this didn't seem like a clean ingredient, and in all honesty this recipe had so much flavor without it, that it isn't necessary. I'm excited to make a lot of other recipes from this cookbook in my crock pot.

I had three lightly salted rice cakes with my sloppy joe.

Around 8pm I snacked on one of these new Kashi bars. It was the perfect dessert!

I hope you all had a great Tuesday and were able to appreciate the history being made today, no matter what side of the aisle you sit on!

Regular post tonight

I know that I often become sporadic in my postings, but once and a while I get on a work project and don't have time to post. The shame is that I have been taking pictures of everything, I just had not been able to sit down and post. Someday I hope I can find a job I love, that gives me extra free time.

I decided that I love the way eating clean makes me feel, so I am back at it this week. I had a big lunch for an interview last Friday and was so sick the rest of the day, because I was used to eating clean and eating smaller meals, more times a day.

I hope to post tonight. Including a new recipe I tried from one of my many cookbooks!

Thanks for understanding!

Thursday's Eats

Like I mention in my last post, Thursday morning began with buckwheat pancakes that my husband made. Today I ate clean, but I mixed and matched meals from other days on the plan.

For Snack 1 I had the bar from the Clean Eating magazine that I have been eating the last two weeks.


A little before lunch I met my husband and we went to Starbucks. I am not sure if caffeine falls under clean eating, but I had a nonfat latte with no sweetener added. I actually really enjoyed it. I do think that these two weeks have made me appreciate food without extra sugar.

For lunch I had raw carrots and a wrap filled with beans and salsa.

For snack two I had a treat that I loved a few days ago. It is fage, protein powder, frozen berries, and flax meal.
I had left over quinoa that I used for dinner. I had two morningstar soy sausage patties with avocado and salsa and a side of broccoli. I tried to take items that are featured in the magazine's meal plan, but switched it up a little. I added a little salsa to the quinoa after I took this picture, because it was so dry that it was hard to eat.

I ran 3.1 miles after dinner, so I decided to have a yogurt. While following the meal plan, I added a snack 3 after dinner.
Have a great day and keep warm!! It is -6 with a -20 windchill in Pittsburgh today.

Love not Food...

So sorry that I still haven't had the chance to post Tuesday's and Wednesday's clean eating. I will post any new meals that I have had tonight. I have found myself repeating a lot of the meals from last week. I found this article that discusses clean eating and what it means and what the benefits are.


This morning I woke up to buckwheat pancakes and fresh berries (picture tonight when I talk about my meals) made by my husband Steve. He wanted to surprise me because today is the day that 4 years ago I met and started dated him. Steve and I met at a night club (only honesty here, we tell some relatives that we met at Pitt, because we both were at school there at the time). He asked for my number after we had spent 3 hours dancing together. When I left the night club I didn't think I would ever see or hear from him again. Well, we were married on May 12, 2007. I included some of our wedding photos (sorry they are small and hard to see, I took them off of Shutterfly, because I'm at work and those are the only photos I have access to).


I love this one, because we look so happy!



In St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh where we were married:


I like this one, although it looks all grainy here.

While Steve and I have had plenty of difficult times together over the years, we have also shared so many wonderful times together. Overall we have learn a lot about love and relationships along the way. I asked him on the car ride into work this morning if he thought it felt like less or more than 4 years, and he said less (I said more). I don't know if I said more because so many things have changed in our lives in the last four years or if I feel like he has always been a part of my life.

So Steve, thanks for continuing to date me even though you were scared on our first date at Dave and Buster's when I said I don't eat meat ;) Here is to hoping for a life together just as romantic and wonderful as the first year we spent together in 2005!

I'll post actual meals from the Clean Eating meal plan I have been following tonight!

Finally, if you haven't entered yet, Oh She Glows is holding a giveaway for Honest Food products!

Clean Eating Monday Week 2

As I mentioned yesterday I decided to follow week 2 of the Clean Eating magazine's meal plan.

Breakfast: I had the smoothie recipe from the magazine. In this is skim milk, non-fat yogurt, frozen berries, and protein powder. When I made this other times this week I used Fage, but today I used a flavored greek yogurt, because my husband doesn't like the plain. Using the flavored greek yogurt was a negative during my Clean Eating because of all the added sugar. However this smoothie still filled me up well.

Snack 1: I LOVE THIS!!! This was on the meal plan. It calls for 4 oz of nonfat plain yogurt (I used Fage), berries, flax meal, and protein powder (I used chocolate). This really tasted like a dessert to me.

Lunch: The plan called for mashed chick peas with mixed veggies and vinaigrette on a wrap. I kept the filling separate from the wrap until lunch, so that the wrap didn't get soggy. This was also very good.

Snack 2: The plan called for 1/3 cup of walnuts and an apple. I decided on only 1/4 cup of walnuts.

Dinner: The meal plan called for a burger or a Boca burger with no bun, topped with 1/4 of an avocado. Also roasted vegetables. I didn't have time to make roasted vegetables, and I didn't know what types of vegetables are best for roasting (any suggestions??) so I had a bowl of peas and a bowl of grapes (which aren't a vegetable, so not really part of the meal plan. I also decided to top the avocado on my Boca burger with some salsa.

This was the salsa I used at dinner. I had never tried it before, but it looked so good because I like artichoke a lot.

After my 1 hour Pilates class I decided I was super hungry (most likely because of my missing bun at dinner). So I had two plain rice cakes with a little all natural peanut butter.

Have a great Tuesday!!

Day 7 of Clean Eating (except the cookie)!

Today I opted to mix-up meals from different days from last week. For breakfast I had a smoothie, but I took the recipe from the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook. It was a mixture of dry oats, milk, protein powder, peanut butter, frozen banana and flax seed.

Before church I had one of the Nutty Maple-Cinnamon Bar for Snack 1.

For lunch I had leftovers from dinner last night, which included quinoa and a smothered mushroom. The mushroom is topped with salsa, a little green onion, cheese, and sesame seeds. It is cooked in the oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. On the side I had some snap peas.

I ran 4.7 miles on the treadmill and I was starving. For snack 2 I had an apple with some peanut butter.

For dinner I ate a large salad, some steamed vegetables, and some tofu scrambles with flax meal and some Dijon mustard.

Because of my long run I wanted some extra sugar. I decided to make the "You Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate" Cookies from Dreena Burton's Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan. However, I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of spelt flour and I didn't use the cocoa powder, so they weren't chocolate cookies. These weren't part of the Clean Eating plan, but they are so good.

I have loved following week 1 of the Clean Eating plan, so I am going to take on week 2 as well. I think 2 weeks of the plan will make it easier to discuss the benefits that I have observed. Have a great Sunday night everyone!