WIAW #2

Well since people were sooo extremely supportive of me jumping on the WIAW bandwagon with them, I'm here to do round two!

So let's get going!

Breakfast = Greek yogurt with Barlean's lemon smoothie oil (awesome stuff!), with strawberries, some orange pieces, and raisin bread

Dinner = turkey, steamed veggies and mashed taters

oh and of course a side of fruit! 

...please take notice of the "couple" of peanut butter cups we 'obtained'

Snack #1 = peanut butter and raisins on celery... and if you think I just licked off the peanut butter and raisins and left the celery you'd be right 

:/

I can't help it - I just can not take celery!

Snack #2 = graham crackers and apple slices with lemon pudding... I've been pretty into pudding these days! 

Supper = toast with peanut butter, topped with bananas and strawberries and then drizzled in honey :)

Snack #3 = If you're wondering what in the #!*?@ this is... just look here

p.s. I don't actually cuss - ever. 

Well that's all - hope your day is spectacular! Mine will be filled with packing, packing and packing... oh ya-maybe studying for finals? But probably not. Oh well!

Blessings!

~Kristen 

Thanks Peas & Crayons - http://www.peasandcrayons.com/ for this awesome par-tay!

Granola Muffins

What's cute and small? Sweet and crunchy? With a little bit of sass? 

Well me when I was 5! (minus the crunch!) But also these Granola Muffins!

They are a perfect little treat that can be customized to fit any taste palate. Not to mention easy to make... so easy you can even get the children you babysit involved for a fun way to pass the time!

First things first - get you dry ingredients all stirred together (this is a perfect job for little hands)

Then... while the little one(s) are doing that, you can melt up the wet-ish side of things...

When it's warm and all thoroughly mixed together, wait about 3-4 minutes after it starts simmering... then you are ready to pour it over the dry!

You'll mix them together really well and press into muffin tins. 

Then place in a 350* oven for 20ish minutes (sides will be golden brown)

And viola! 

Also a perfect on the go treat for you!

I threw these into the car as they were just cool enough to pack up before I went out and picked up the rest of the kids from school. 

It was a perfect in the car snack! This is due to these Granola Muffin's 3 qualities:

1. Healthy (so I can feel good about feeding them to children)

2. Delicious (so the kids actually want to eat them!)

and

3. More on the chewy side of things instead of crunchy ... aka-not a HUGE mess in my backseat!

:)

So here is the full out recipe-

Ingredients:

(wet)

-1 banana

-1/4 cup peanut butter

-1/4 cup honey

-2 TBSP. butter

-1 tsp. salt

(dry)

-1 1/2 cups oats

-1/2 cup flour

-1/2 cup cereal of choice

-1/2 cup coconut (or any nuts/cereal)

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 cup nuts (or any other mix-in... choco chips, raisins, etc.)

1. Mix dry together

2. Heat wet on stove, mashing banana and mixing well.

3. Let wet simmer on stove for 3-4 minutes, then remove and let cool a minute or two

4. Add to dry and mix well

5. Press big spoonfuls into muffin tin (greased)

6. Place in 350* oven for 20 minutes, sides of muffins should be golden

7. Cool, remove and ENJOY!

Reese's Muffins (healthy!)

We all know I'm a sucker for breakfast...

anytime of the day.

And I'm a sucker for peanut butter...

So in the celebration of Easter (reminds me of Reese's Eggs-YUM!)

My friend and I decided to storm the kitchen and make an explosion of breakfast deliciousness containing peanut butter and chocolate, but in a healthy way! 

(*drum roll*)

REESE'S MUFFINS!

This recipe was inspired by Equal Exchange Cocoa

What is this Equal Exchange company you ask?

Check out my review here-

So back to the recipe!

The wet stuff (cream it all up!) ~

-2 ripe bananas (about a cup)

-1/2 cup sugar (or substitute, or 1/4 cup honey)

-2 egg whites (or one whole egg)

-3/4 cup Greek yogurt

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 tsp. butter extract (optional)

The dry stuff (sift it baby!) ~

-1 cup whole wheat flour

-1/2 cup Equal Exchange Cocoa (or your favorite brand of unsweetened cocoa powder)

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. baking soda

When you're done sifting...

Melt up 1/4 (heaping if you're like me!) cup of peanut butter

Mmmm... 

Use all your self control to not stick your head into the measuring cup and drink that amazing melty peanut butter!

Alright.

Now- add the wet to the dry and fold in 1/4 cup peanut butter chips and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Then fill your muffin tins (will make about 15ish) 3/4 full with batter

Then add a heaping spoonful of peanut butter to each muffin tin and swirl, swirl, swirl!

Ahhh Yeahhh.... 

Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes

Remove

and 

DEVOUR!

Let me hear ya- what's your favorite muffin?

Hit me up with some new recipes friends!

adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Easy Peasy Breakfast in a Jar

So I'm jumping on the bandwagon and trying out (enter whatever the heck you can think of here)-In-A-Jar!
Anybody else tried this new-found trend?

Well, this morning, I had a little bit of peanut butter left in the jar...

I'd say about a tablespoon or so...

So I threw in the last of my Raisin Bran...

probably a half-cup

Topped it with one sliced banana

Stirred it all around-and DEVOURED!

It may sound strange... but boy oh boy was it nummy! 

If anyone else has some delish ...-in-a-jar recipes-leave the link in a comment below! 

Peace, love and peanut butter.

-Kristen

Peanut Butter Cookie Granola

Peanut Butter + Granola = :)

Dare I say more?

This recipe requires no commentary, no extra words tell you how amazing it is and persuading your to make it-I mean, you'd be crazy to see a recipe containing the words peanut butter and granola and not deciding to make it within 35.39 seconds 

Just Crazy.

So here's the low-down...

melt peanut butter and margarine

til margarine is completely liquified - then add honey and egg white

combine it with a bunch of other random stuff.. 

throw it on a pan and stash in your 250* oven for 45 minutes or so

and magically it will turn into this!

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP margarine

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 TBSP honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg white

1 tsp. baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 cup oats

1/2 cup fiber one cereal

1 1/2 cup crispy brown rice cereal

1 TBSP. chia seeds (opt.)

2 TBSP. flax seeds (opt.)

Preheat oven to 250*

Melt your peanut butter and margarine, then add all ingredients up to salt.

Mix well

Combine dry ingredients together

Pour wet-melted stuff over the dry and stir to coat all

Place on a cookie sheet and bake-stirring every 10 minutes for 40 minutes to an hour; until pieces are 'dry' but not overly brown

Swirled into a peanut butter smoothie? 

Heaven on Earth.

Grilled PPB&J - Pear, Peanut Butter & Jelly

How did I pump up the power on a grilled pb&j? 

Well thanks for asking! 

...I added a pear! That's how :)

Two slices bread...

Cover with peanut butter and homemade strawberry jelly

Cover with a thinly sliced pear

Put bread together, spray both sides with nonstick cooking spray and grill

Slice and Enjoy!

Frosted Peanut Butter Bars

Would you just look at that peanut butter ooey-gooey frosting dripping off that chewy snack bar?

Now think about how healthy it is! I'm not joking... healthy peanut butter frosting. Yes, I did it! *bow*

Ingredients: 

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

1 small banana (mashed)

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup flour (any kind-I used coconut and it worked!)

1 cup puffed wheat cereal

1 cup oats

1 cup rice crispies

1/2 cup bran flakes (or any other cereal)

1/2 cup fiber one (or any other cereal)

yum yum with bananas!

All you do is blend the egg, banana, applesauce, honey until nice and smooth

Then mix in baking powder, salt, flour

Finally add in all the cereals

Bake on 350* for 10-12 minutes - not long, just enough to make it set

Now for the frosting!

Just mix equal parts peanut butter and milk and warm in microwave. (start with 1 tbsp.)

Add a splash of vanilla

Then mix in powdered sugar (you can do it sugar free!)*

And mix until it is smooth

Spread over warm, but not straight out of oven bars

*Blend sugar substitute in a high powered blender until it becomes sugar-free powdered 'sugar'

Awesome. 

Have a happy day! :)

Freaky Food Combos...

Everybody's got them! Admit it! There is probably at least one thing that you eat/do to your food or drink that is a little cooky... I know I do!

But before I get into mine... look at my dad's!

Isn't that sick? I think so anyways....

Wait! You don't even know what it is, do you? Well if you guessed a cinnamon roll, with a piece of melty cheese on top, and then drizzled with icing you would be correct weirdly psychic somehow!

So that's my dad's biggest food habit - putting cheese on EVERYTHING! Honestly. Not just cinnamon rolls... oh no-cookies, rice krispie bars, etc. etc.

Mine? Well I probably have way too many to count...

But a few are:
-ketchup on well a lot! But especially cheetos...
-Ranch on pizza
-Cheese and peanut butter
...yes I just got done making fun of my father, and I don't eat these anymore...but when I was little I used to make myself cheese and PB sandwiches. Just two pieces of American cheese with peanut butter slathered inside. Delicious, no?
-Soggy foods. I just LOVE 'em! Like cereal of course, but also soggy bread (like in french dip sandwiches), soggy cookies (after dipped in milk for way too long!) or soggy crackers in soup.
-Frozen bread. No, not the dough, like just bread that has already been cooked and set in the freezer. Cold, wet, delectable in oh so many ways!

~If you are still reading and haven't blocked my blog from your newsfeed I'm honored. And impressed.

So now that I've poured out my deepest, darkest, weirdest food combinations, let's hear yours! Best one gets a PRIZE!

Double Mug Recipes

Who loves COFFEE???? ME! That's who! In celebration of how much I love all things coffee - today I had coffee to the second degree. 

See those two? Beautiful. 

The left is healthy banana bread in a mug and the right is a Iced Mocha! AHHH! YUM!

This recipe is pretty easy...

In a bowl combine: 

3 TBSP. flour (I used Grandpa's gluten free flour blend and it worked perfectly!)

3 TBSP. sugar (or stevia, or 1 1/2 tbsp. honey/agave/maple syrup)

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Then add: 

1 mashed banana

1 egg (or 3 egg whites, or 1/4 cup egg beaters)

1 TBSP. Greek yogurt

1 TBSP. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

mix thoroughly and pour into a coffee mug that has been sprayed with cooking spray

~Microwave 2-3 minutes, it will puff up and possibly run over :S But ya know-it's worth it! :)

Then let it sit a minute or so before digging in! 

Want to put it just over the top? I thought so.... To really hit a home run with this yummy treat do as Kristen does and top it off with 1 TBSP. peanut butter and a small handful of granola. 

You will NOT be sorry! 

So now for coffee recipe numero dos - Ice Mocha!

Pretty simple as well - 

-1 cup coffee chilled

-1 TBSP. cocoa powder (or chocolate syrup if you'd rather)

-1 tsp. stevia (or sugar, honey, agave, etc. - just something sweet... no you may NOT throw me into your cup :D

-pinch of salt

-1/4 cup milk

-frozen coffee ice cubes

~Mix up coffee, cocoa, sugar, salt and milk & our over frozen coffee cubes. If you'd like-top it off with some whipped topping

Who's having an over the top super-deeeee-duper day now? Hopefully all of you! 

BREAD! Alpine Valley Bread #obsessed.

Ok, let's get some stuff straight...
1. I LOVE bread all carbs - but especially some good bread
2. I have dont some great product reviews in my short time blogging and am extremely grateful
3. I would much rather make my own homemade bread than eat bread from a company

And to further clarify: #1 still stands, #2 still stands, #3 is out. the. window.

Yes-I admit-I've found been blessed to have the best bread company EVER come into my life!

Alpine Valley Bread. It's the BEST bread company I have ever come across, not lying. Their bread is so delicious, healthy and smile-inducing. (yes, that is now an adjective)

I don't even know how to explain it - it's just soooo soooo.... ahh! Smile-inducing!

Alpine Valley Bread was generous enough to send me a few different loaves of breads. They arrived while I was away at college so my mother kindly kept them in the freezer until I got home (which was about 1 month). You'd think that would lower their taste... NOPE! Even after a month in the freezer this bread was the most amazing non-homemade bread I have ever had in my entire life. I have been home 5 days and already on loaf #3... little obsessed-maybe?!

Although my family is definitely helping me out though, which right there says a lot about how delicious this bread is because they would not eat something just because it is healthy. But, since we are on the subject, the bread is crazy healthy!

They have both all natural bread and organic bread. On average, one slice has about 60ish calories, 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein plus a little iron. It's very low in sodium (about 3%) and low in carbs as well.

The bread is soft and moist. Makes extremely great sandwiches, but also flavorful enough to just be eaten plain. They have so many varieties, I'm sure everyone will find one (or 20) that they just love. I know I have. Everything that goes into these loaves of bread is delicious and wholesome, and the end product is nothing short of delicious and wholesome itself.

Yum.

Yum.

Yum.

Their Multi-grain with Omega 3 toasted with some pears and Greek yogurt for a delicious breakfast

Some Spelt bread with a peanut butter & honey smoothie makes for one delightful bedtime snack!

So no matter who you are - if you are able to eat bread, GET ALPINE VALLEY BREAD! The sooner the better! Check this out to see where the closest place to pick up these little slices of heaven are to you!

Thanks Alpine Valley Bread Co. for an amazing, delicious product that I am now obsessed with! *These opinions are all my own, the only thing I received from Alpine Vally Bread was their samples.