Foodie Friday (or maybe Savory Saturday)

Alright, I know it.  I'm a day late and a dollar short.  So, Foodie Friday is actually a Saturday this week...so let's call it Savory Saturday!

Tried out a new recipe this week and I have a few in the works for next week too!  For a long time I have been on the lookout for a really good granola bar recipe, that was easy with minimal ingredients.  I have finally found a pretty good one and it is pretty basic.

HomeMade Runner's Granola Bars
Basic Bar Recipe (it's only 3 ingredients!):
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
3/4 cup peanut butter

To this you can add any combination of goodies that you like!  For my version, I wanted high protein and some carbs for pre-run energy.  So I added in 1/2 cups unsalted peanuts for protein, 1/2 cup chocolate chips for carbs (and well, because they're yummy) and 4 Tablespoons of Chia seeds for some Omega 3's...as mid-westerners with diets extremely high in Omega-6 fatty acids, we can never have enough Omega-3's to help keep the 3-6 balance aligned!
If you are unfamiliar with the importance of balancing Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, click here for some great info! 
Grease a 9" x 13" pan and press granola batter into the pan.  Use the back of a spatula to press down the batter very well.  The tighter it is packed, the less crumbly your granola bars will be.  And trust me, you do not want these crumbling apart before they get to your mouth...you will want to eat every bite!  Bake for 25 minutes.  I cut them while they are warm, then let them cool in the pan, before removing them!  Then enjoy.

Some other great add-ins:Raisins
Flaxseed or meal (I would have added this too, but I didn't realize I was out!)
Other nuts (almonds would be delish)
Other dried fruits (I'm thinking cranberries or dried cherries)
M&M's (these would have made great v-day treats with red M&Ms)
Rocky Road (chocolate chips and mini marshmallows...ok, so now we are talking more dessert than energy bar...but it sounds really good!)

Really, pretty much anything you can think of!  Just keep your add-ins under 1 cup total, or you will have to begin to add more peanut butter or more honey to compensate for the extra dry ingredients!

These are honestly, the best granola bars I have ever had.  Even the hubby fell in love with them.  The flavors unite, but somehow you can taste the peanut butter and honey seperately.  And I highly recommend the chia seeds, they add a "pop" to the texture of the bars that make them so unique and phenomenal!  I hope you all enjoy them as much as we do!  I'm pretty sure I'll be making these often during my marathon training!

Saturday Motivation:

"A mile is a mile,

no matter how fast you run it!"

Foodie Friday 2/2/12

Lately, it's been grab and go in our house at meal time.  I've been doing my best to try out one new healthy meal each week, but it's been tough!

The hubby has decided to really "buckle" down and get fit again.  And I need to lose a few lbs before I begin my official marathon training in May/June, mainly to save myself from injury.  So we are trying our best to get back to a "whole foods-paleo" type diet.  Although, I'm trying to move us over gradually, so we don't miss some of our favorite junk foods!  Can't go off junk food (think pizza, pasta, all the good stuff) cold turkey...but we'll get there!

So, I had planned on Sunday being a "freebie day" in which we would eat some junk and enjoy ourselves during the Superbowl.  But I was told in no uncertain terms, that the hubby would NOT be eating any crap and he needed some healthy options!

Which is leading me to try something new.  While I was working my clinical shift at the hospital yesterday, I was chatting with some of the x-ray techs who have or are doing Weight Watchers.  They were telling me about how they combine greek yogurt with dry ranch dip mix and snack on it with veggies!  I thought "HOW PERFECT!"  Ranch with a little extra boost of protein!

So that is what we will be trying out in the next week!  Once I actually get it mixed, and figure out ratio of yogurt to dressing mix, I'll post an actual "recipe" and a review and let everyone know how it was!

I hope everyone has a great Superbowl weekend!  I am heading out for a run!

Foodie Friday ~ 1/13/12

Ahhhhh, Happy Friday the 13th! 

I haven't tried anything too creative this week.  I spent the week working on coming up with creative "make ahead" healthy meal solutions.  Since my semester break is winding down, next week I'll be back to being busy and studying non-stop, while still trying to get my runs and workouts in and try to keep healthy meals on hand.  Here are a few of the make ahead things I came up with:

Breakfasts:
Baked egg cups ~  18 pack of eggs, 2 cups of shredded cheese, and canadian bacon.  Scramble eggs and pour into greased muffin tins (I stress the greasing.  I forgot to grease 1 muffin cup and I still can't get all the egg out!)  Push a piece of canadian bacon into each cup, then top with a small sprinkle of cheese, add a small amount of pepper if you wish.  Bake at 350 until the eggs are firm.
Why I love this:  I don't eat a lot of eggs, but my husband LOVES this in the mornings.  He doesn't have a lot of time, so having them pre-made is fantastic.  He just pops them into the microwave and they re-heat really well.  This week, I'll be taking some of the egg yolk out and doing more egg whites to make it a bit healthier for him and maybe adding some veggies!

Lunches:
I'm still stumped on lunches.  I will probably make sure that I pre-cook chicken breast for salads and have tuna at the ready for flat bread sandwiches.  If I come up with anything super great, easy and healthy...I'll be sure to post it!

Dinners:
Spinach stuffed chicken ~  this was good, I pounded out chicken breast and added some shredded cheese and spinach (along with a bit of seasoning)  into the middle of the chicken and rolled it up.  Baked it at 375 until chicken was no longer pink.  It was good!

Snacks:
Snacks are where I have been having trouble.  I need to come up with some better snack options.  I need some easy take along ideas, that I can stick into my bag and keep there!  My go to snack has been apples and peanut butter...but honestly, I've been over-doing the peanut butter and I know it.  Really not that healthy of an option when you eat a million tablespoons at one sitting!
But I love sweet snacks, so I am looking for something that will give me a bit of sweet, without over doing it!  So here is what I have come up with:
Fruit (plain, no PB :( )
Mixed nuts with a small ration of M&Ms
Homemade granola with raisins (1/3 cup PB, 1/3 cup honey, 3 cups oats - melt PB and honey together, add oats, bake at 350 for 10 minutes)

I will be adding to this list as time goes by...I need to come up with a great snack list, so I don't stray and go to the "bad" options!

I hope everyone has a great Friday the 13th!

Foodie Friday

So this week has been a crazy one for us.  The kids and the hubby are back to school and work, respectively.  And my semester break is winding down, so I am trying to get a bunch of projects done before I go back to school.  So, food has been kinda grab and go this week.  I have a handful of great recipes to try and unfortunately, the ingredients are still in the fridge!  But I did come across 2 new recipes that I absolutely had to share.  One because it was sooooooo easy and the other because of it's healthful deliciousness!
Breakfast:
Green Smoothie
You can find the recipe here!
Why I love this: I am sticking with green smoothies for breakfast simply because they are so easy in the mornings, when I am trying to get the kids out the door, and they are great for fueling morning runs!

Lunch:
Flat bread sandwiches made with Flatout Foldit 5 grain flax flat breads.  I've been filling it with turkey or tuna and lots of veggies.
Why I love this: I love these Foldit's breads because they are only 90 calories, have tons of fiber  and are very filling!  And honestly, when I can't have bread, I miss it terribly.  So this is a good solution.  They would also be great for mini pizzas!

Dinner:
Ham Sliders
1 package of Hawaiin rolls (sweet or non, your choice)
Deli ham
Provolone cheese
1 onion, chopped
mustard

Cook onion, until soft.  Then add mustard.  Cut rolls into sandwich form, then place ham and cheese on rolls.  Add onion & mustard mixture.  Wrap in foil and back for 10 minutes at 375.
Why I love these:   Ok, these are not great for you... but they are so easy and everyone loved them.  Plus, you can make these ahead of time and pop them into the freezer.  Take them out of the freezer and just increase cooking time to around 20-30 minutes or until they are heated through!  These were a huge hit, and I think I'll keep these in the freezer at ALL TIMES!  I paired them with some quick brocolli and cheese and we had a great, complete meal!

Snack:
Banana Bites:
4 bananas
1 package of sugar free pudding (chocolate is best)
2 cups of milk
Make pudding and let it soft set.  Cut bananas into bite size pieces, then dip them into the soft set pudding and place on a cookie sheet on wax paper.  Pop into the freeze and freeze.  Pull of wax paper and put into a gallon size freezer bag and keep in the freezer.
Why I love these:  I have a crazy sweet tooth and these seem to do the trick.  Yes, the pudding still isn't the best for me, but it is far better than sitting down and eating a box of oreos!  And the beauty of them, they are so cold, you can only eat one or two at a time.  So, it is almost impossible to over do it!  And the kids LOVED them!  I will be making these often too!  They do taste like chocolate and banana....so if you don't love banana, you won't enjoy these!  But I suggest trying them, they are fantastic!

I have a ton of new recipes to try for next week, so hopefully I will have a few new recipes for next week!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Food Friday 12/30/2011

Well, I guess I am a day late and a dollar short here today! I meant to get this posted yesterday and was completely sidetracked with spending the day with the kids!  It was their last day of winter vacation, so we hit up the aquarium and had a great day! 

With the kids being home this week, and the all the holiday hulabaloo, it was a tough eating week.  So my eating was crazy sporadic, although I did well, I did have my moments.  I wish I could have gotten the gym every day, but that just wasn't happening with the kids home, so I did my best.  No weight loss this week, but it will come! (After I splurge on New Year's Eve, of course...but I will be hitting the gym for a workout before all the splurging).

As I said, my week in food wasn't all that awesome, but here were the highlight recipes:

Breakfast:
Green Smoothie
1 banana
1/2 cup plain chobani yogurt
small dash of milk
1 TBS flax seed
2-3 handfuls of spinach
Throw it all together and throw in a blender.
Why I love this:  It is so easy!  It is meant to be a "base" smoothie.  Meaning you can then go in and add other fruits to it to flavor it, but I really like it the way it is, I enjoy the banana flavor to it.  For some reason, this is a great pre-run smoothie.  It gives me tons of energy before  a long run, which I love!  If I drink this post workout, I have been thinking about tossing a scoop of chocolate peanut butter protien into it.  I think it would go nicely with bananas.  (And I have to admit...I am already tired of salads, so I am using this to replace some of my daily salads!)

Lunch:
Fruity Oatmeal:
1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup water
dash of milk
1 TBS flax seed
small handful of slivered almonds
fruit of choice
Make oatmeal as directed on package and add fruit.
Why I love this:  Some days I just crave carbs!  And if I leave that craving unchecked, I'll go off the deep end and eat (gasp...) Wonderbread or something equally as horrible.  This works great to stave off the carb cravings...since it is a carb.  But it is a friendly carb, right?  Anyhoo, I love being able to interchange the fruits depending on what sounds good.  Some days, I'll also add cinammon, if I have a fruit that pairs well with it.  Some options for adding are chopped apples, bananas, raisins, any dried fruits (as long as they don't contain added sugar).

Dinner:
Portabella Pizzas
4 large portabella mushrooms
4 TBS pizza sauce (optional)
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/4 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 cups low fat mozarella cheese
pepperoni

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Scoop tines out of the inside of the mushrooms.  Flip mushrooms upside down and put them on a wire rack placed on a baking sheet.  Spread 1 TBS of pizza sauce on the inside of each mushroom.  This step is optional, I don't think you'd miss the pizza sauce, if you omitted it.  I think I will get rid of it next time, just to eliminate the use of a processed food from the recipe!  Now, you can add the onions, peppers and garlic directly to the pizzas, or you can cook them first.  Personally,  I prefer them slightly cooked.  So I added the peppers, onion and garlic to a small skillet and browned them for about 10 minutes.  Then I added the tomatoes to the mixture, stirred then placed them on the mushrooms.  Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cheese on top of each.  I put a few pepperoni's on each and popped them into the oven.  You could easily omit the pepperoni's to make it a meatless meal, and you wouldn't miss it.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes.  The mushrooms will get "juicy", which is why I put them up on the rack to keep them from getting soggy.  Basically, cook through until everything is warmed and cheese is melty.
Why I loved this:  Super tasty and gave us a good dose of veggies.  The husband absolutely raved about it, and his was reheated in the microwave, since he was gone at dinnertime.  Unfortunately, due to the high-veggie-factor, I couldn't even get the kids to try it.  I'm not sure they would have liked it anyways.  But I thought it was great and the prep was really easy, so this would be a good busy night meal!

And that is all!  I hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend and stay safe!