Taster Thursday with Chickpeatos

OK I'm back with a couple of taste testers for our 2nd week of Taste Thursday.  I picked up this week's item last week on a grocery run.  My daughter was with me when I bought them and was excited to try them on the next taste day!  She even mentioned it a couple days ago too.  

Proof is in the pictures!

Or is it?

That first bite as you try to assess the snack is a look of concentration.  A new snack flavor is serious business when your trying to decide if it should stay or go.

 Today's snack is Popped Chickpeatos by Watuseefoods. I selected the Caramel Sea Salt flavor as I thought I would need all the flavor help I could get for this! 

  I picked up this .8oz bag at my local grocery store.  It was available  for $1.00!   Each bag is 1 serving and each bag is 100 calories. There is also 6 grams of protein in every serving too!

They have a nice dessert, sweet scent to them.  They look like white cheese puffs covered with some cinnamon. Upon taking a bite you immediately think it's a cheese puff!  I taste more of the sweetness then any pea or chickpea flavor.  Which may be helpful when trying to get kids to eat healthy.

My daughter liked these but my son was not a fan.  She did finish the bowl.  I would buy these again for her to snack on.

Banana Peach Non-Dairy Frozen Treat

  Today we are going to try an edible delight! I had a peach last night that was the best piece of fruit I have had in a while. The first bite was so juicy that I knew I was about to enjoy the rest of the fruit for the next 15 minutes.  I dragged the consumption out!  I took a bite, sat it down, came back from another and sat it down until sadly it was gone. No worries though because there were 4 more in the bag and No one else knew how good they really were.

  I have made the infamous non-dairy ice cream with bananas before but today I raised the bar! I added peaches!

2 ingredients and a food processor is all I used in addition to the freezer.

1 frozen banana

1 ripe peach

1. Blend the frozen banana in the food processor until smooth and creamy.

2.  I then refroze the creamy banana for a half hour.

3. Slice up some of your peach!  After I sliced a side I actually only used a tablespoon of the peaches for my 1 banana.

4.   Add your spoonful of peaches to the creamy banana blend together again and add it back to freezer for a couple hours or until it's reached a texture to your liking.

  Your healthy 2 ingredient non-dairy frozen dessert is done! Grab a spoon and dig in.  Now this is only one serving so if you don't want to share eat it when the kids are in bed! Or double the recipe and offer a healthy treat to the kids too.

  How else do you stay cool in the summer if not with a frozen treat?

Weekly Menu 8/14-8/18

  Last week I made all my planned meals except for the vegetarian chili on Thursday.  I would normally carry over the meal into the next week but I'm missing a few important ingredients too so I'll put that back into the pile.

  This week I'm only making 3 meals because there are enough leftovers in the house to feed us for a couple days.

Monday 8/14
1 pot chili mac
http://damndelicious.net/2014/03/15/one-pot-chili-mac-cheese/

Tuesday 8/15
Meatless
http://www.marthastewart.com/313967/shrimp-with-couscous

Wednesday 8/16
Meatless
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9401/salmon-patties-i/

Thursday 8/17
Leftovers

Friday 8/18
Leftovers

  I'm looking forward to my short week.  Plus as long as we eat up the leftovers the weekly plan was a success.  If meals get thrown away because it's old or under appreciated it's definitely a sad waste.

  Any meal plans this week for you?  Any dinner out plans?

Steps for a Fitness Change

  Just a couple years ago I was trapped in a medical boot.  After several visits to various doctors, different tests done and x-rays and scans completed. 2 months later of me hobbling I was diagnosed with a stress fracture.  I had that boot on mobilizing my freedom of movement for 6 months.  I was an active person prior to that so that was hard.

 If your interested in getting fit what's stopping you? Get your pencil out and list your pros and cons.  Make goals instead of excuses.

1. Know your why!

  Working out is all what you put in. Just like at your daily job whether it's in a office or at home.  If you put in minimal work your will get minimal results.  Think about what you want to accomplish. Set goals that you can climb up to.  Making them attainable although slow will help the process be more manageable. What are you looking for weight loss, muscle tone or definition, more endurance.

2.  How much time do you have?

  How important is fitness in your life?  What are you willing to do to make it happen?  Wake up at 5am to get some time in before work? Don't run out the gate with a timeline of 2 weeks.  It will be a process.  You may not see results for the first couple weeks but at the end of a dedicated month small changes may be visible. I shoot for at least an hour at the gym more is good but definitely not less. 30- 45 minutes of cardio followed by some weight training.  You will not I repeat you will not get huge if you pick up weights.  Stronger but not huge.

3.  Be open minded.

  You are trying to make changes in your lifestyle so you have to come to terms with all that means.  Sweating, hot and thirsty.  You will be tired and that's because your working your body like never before. The nice thing is it will feel good. The exhaustion will pass and you will feel relieved.

  There are so many options you can utilize on this journey and I'm going to share what I use for my fitness routine to include the gym and other resources. You can spend money but that's not necessary.  You can workout for next to nothing! I'll be back with options to shed, tone or build endurance.

9 Days of 30 Day Fitness Challenge Recap

  So at the beginning of the month I made a couple goals.  One of those goals was to workout in one way or the other for the month of Dec.  Yes, I did workout before but never everyday. Never with the mindset that I had to get a workout in EVERY day.  Never have I ever worked out with a purpose everyday until now.

Here's what 9 days of working out looks like!

Day 1 I started on the elliptical.

Day 2 I swam laps for 30 minutes.

 





 

Day 3 I worked out at home but not alone!

 



Day 4 I ran on the treadmill.

 



 

Day 5 I rowed 5000m.

Day 6 I took a Piloxing class.

 



 

Day 7 I swam sat in the hot tub and spent minutes in the sauna.

 

Day 8 on the bike.

Day 9 also on the bike.

 

 

 

  I would like to say that's a pretty productive 9 days.  Some of my cardio days included weight training with an exception of the class and swimming days.  I alternate between legs, arms and abs.  This second week I started with protein shakes in the morning and even meal prepped my lunches for the week.

 

  I am not looking for major changes although some pants have slid on a little better then they used to; that's kind of nice let's just be honest.  The scale hasn't moved but, you know what they say its about how your clothes fit!  I just want to condition my body and tone it.  I wanted to set a challenge/goal for myself and 30 days of fitness sounded like a good place to start.  9 days down 3 weeks to go!  See what I did there?  The weeks were less then the days so I am fooling myself.

 

 

  If you feel motivated to join me I would love to hear your goals whether they are fitness related or not.  What are you currently challenging yourself with?  Finish reading one more book before the end of the month?  Finish shopping a week ahead of Christmas?  

 

Beans in the Brownies (pinterest challenge day 13)

  First off if your following me on Instagram you should have already seen my video if not jump over there for a short interrogation by my child.  She knew we were going to have brownies today but was not too sure about the use of beans.  I tried to tell her we had them before and all was well but she didn't remember probably because I didn't tell her about them.

  My challenge today was bean brownies!  Why not!  Do you think the more I actually let them know what's in their food the more likely they are to actually try it outside of what I cook it in?  Hmm, your probably right, probably not.  So until then I will randomly feed them goodies with veggies.  I look forward to the day one of them wakes up and says hey mom I'm feeling really healthy today what happened.

  There are so many options you can choose on Pinterest.  You can search just brownies but I selected bean brownies.  That was the easy part after that you have to scroll through dozens of option until your content with one.  Sometimes this is easy based on ingredients I have on hand, 3 ingredient recipes, no bake, or quick preps.  So many choices.  Lucky for you, you can always add them to a board or just like it so that it's saved for another day.

  Todays recipe was brownies with beans.
 

I added the batter to the pan and let the kids smell it before I put it in the oven.  I asked what it smelled like.  They could identify chocolate as they searched to see the beans.  Everything was run through the food processor so there was very little proof of them in the batter.

Brownies done and cooling.  They spent 18 minutes cooking and making the air smell delicious so when they were done, you couldn't help but want one.

Brownies are served better with a glass of milk

Supper easy recipe.  Everything goes in the food processor then poured in the pan.  The texture was the same as a traditional brownie.  The flavor was high in chocolate and no bean flavor at all.  The kids saw the whole process and still couldn't be stopped or slowed down with the beans. Chocolate trumps beans.  10 minutes of resting and I served up a piece to everyone.  The chocolate was still gooey and melted on your fingers.  2 kids loved these brownies and wanted more so you know what that means? #Pinterestwin!

  All my pinterest challenges can be found on my pinterest challenge board.

A Granola Bar with Strawberries

  First time recipe today.  (A lot of my recipes are but sometimes I am a little more concerned with some then others).  A strawberry banana granola bar! Yes a homemade granola bar with fruit in it.  I will let you know that these little healthy bars are super easy to make and they taste good to.

  This recipe takes minimal ingredients and I think the cook time is longer then the prep time.  So if you need a snack for your child's lunch in a hurry this would absolutely work.

  Grab those strawberries because all the recipes I'm sharing this month involve those!

  Honey, coconut oil and a banana.

  Oatmeal.

  Blend all your items together with some milk (which you can easily substitute for a nondairy)

  Then add the beautiful berries!

  I cooked the granola for the minimum  time of 15 minutes and was easily able to cut them in squares.  This recipe produced a soft chewy granola bar.  You do taste the sweet, juicy bits of strawberries but cannot taste the coconut and I didn't taste the banana either.

Overall delicious granola bar with fruit in it.  Dare I try to get crazy and change the fruit to ahh peaches?  I make a few different granola bars and this will be added to those options.

Check out the recipe here:http://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2014/01/20/strawberry-banana-granola-bars/

Healthy Strawberry Ice Cream

  I made a healthy ice cream to go with the cake I was presented with for Mother's Day!  Making your own healthy ice cream is really easy.  The one real ingredient you need for ice cream is frozen bananas.

  So with my base of just frozen bananas I added a few strawberries in the food processor and chopped them together a few mini chocolate chips and in was done!

  I scooped it onto the cake plates and everyone liked it.  (Except the boy who doesn't like strawberries)  You know what else drives me up the wall is the surprise that it's actually good.  I'm personally offended with, "wow this is good!"

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! 

A Smoothie (Strawberry Style)

  Strawberries go in anything and although I can't confirm they make everything better; I can say I like everything with them.  Today we went with a liquid treat again.

  Strawberry Banana smoothie.  The name says it all.  Basically if you freeze both of these they will make any drink thicker.

  For this recipe I only used 3 ingredients and was pleased with the results.  I switched out the milk with almond milk and I'm sure this only enhanced the flavor.  If I had coconut I would have choose that.

I tossed my frozen strawberries and bananas in the blender

 and a little then less than a cup of almond milk

Blended it up and that was all.

Pour myself a glass and it immediately made me feel better.  It was just sweet enough with a red color from the strawberries a hint of banana flavor and I don't even recall the almond flavor but maybe it was there but also lightly.

Either way this is a nice drink to keep in mind.  You could add more to it or keep it the way it is.  I wonder how it freezes because it would be nice to make smoothies ahead of time and just reblend them prior to drinking.

Check out the recipe here:http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/strawberry-banana-smoothie-recipe/

Cheers to Strawberries

  I saw a recipe on Foodnetwork the other day.  This channel is on in my house as much as cartoons and some prime time shows.  It was a newer show or at least to me.  She made a comment that her husband always had strawberries for breakfast and she decided to merge the strawberries with his drink.

  It was a super easy recipe! Frozen strawberries and oranges.  I can't keep an orange in this house for anything.  They are gobbled up within days of being purchased so I used orange juice from a carton.

  I can only imagine how awesome the drink must be with fresh squeezed juice but I will save that for another day.

  Blend your 2 ingredients together and pour in your glasses.  That's its.  2 ingredients no diary. All natural  (potentially based on your orange selection) all healthy drink.

The frozen strawberries are blended up and turn your drink into a smoothie consistency.  I may add bananas or even a mango next time as this would be even a good base to build on but definitely good by itself!

Check out the recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nancy-fuller/strawberry-oj.html

Tea for two

 

I have seen Matcha Tea everywhere. But have yet to taste it.  I even saw a recipe the other day for Matcha Tea sugar cookies. Matcha Tea is a finely ground powder specially grown and processed green tea.  So the sugar cookies in saw were green in color and it had nothing to do with food coloring or frosting.

  The tea comes with instructions and I even received a followup of tea recipes in my email.  There was emphasis put on the possible flavor.  Comments have been made about the flavor.  Suggestions of adding honey or a sweetner to enhance it is strongly encouraged.

  The container provided different dose measurements.  I tried the 1/2 tsp portion and will try the 3/4 tsp.  With the portion I took I drank some with just the tea then added honey.  The tea alone was not that bitter or bad tasting.  I could have drank it without anything.  After adding honey to it; the flavor was sweeter but still had the same green tea flavor base.

  I did wisk it up with a kitchen wisk as I don't have a Chasen.

  I have read that using this utensil makes a better froth and makes the tea taste better.  I guess I will not worry about it at the moment as I was fine with the tea as it was.  I did however chose to not whisk traditionally but placed the whisk in between my hands and rubbed the whisk shafts in between it.  Think of hand warming motion.  

Overall my opinion on Matcha Green Tea is definitely favorable.  Not only was I pleased with the taste it has many benefits as a tea.  Matcha Tea is a cancer fighter, fat burner and much more.

I was provided this product for my honest review and all opinions are my own.