Best Protein Bar

After a lovely day of cardio, I was definitely craving a Quest Bar. These bars are very popular and there's no doubt that they should be! No matter your wants/desires, there's a Quest Bar for it {As long as those wants and desires are reasonable.. ;)} Quest Bar's are super high in fiber. Fiber is must in my diet. I've had some tummy troubles that requires me to eat A LOT of fiber. I'm always looking for high fiber foods that don't taste like cardboard..  You can choose a bar that taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or even their newest addition cookies and cream. I'm hooked on these. It seriously taste like your sabotaging your diet. But you're not. IT'S GREAT! 

{Double Chocolate Chunk}

I don't think I will ever get over how good these are. It's seriously mind blowing. 

Cinnamon Sugar Chips

Happy Monday everyone!

I was greeted with more snow....yay....
{Can I mention I'm sick of snow and being inside? I want spring!!} 

Anywhooo...

Today {with my mini goal in mind}, I started my day off with some cereal with almond milk, banana, and a piping hot cup of coffee. No better way to start off the week than cereal and coffee. For lunch, I packed a lean cuisine salad addition. Love these products! I also had two clementines. Before my workout I had some almonds, spark, and catalyst. Post workout I had an apple with a 90 calorie blueberry bar. It was right before supper that I had some steamed soy beans...They are soooo addicting! Go buy some right now and put them in your microwave and eat them! High in fiber and you can eat a lot of them {aka lowish in calories}. Supper time came and I baked some non-breaded chicken nuggets and teriyaki vegetables. My mom also insisted that she bake sweet potato fries...I couldn't resist the offer...They are also my weakness... Okay so food in general is my weakness...Get off my back ;). But, before I ate any supper I took Fibo-Trim supplements.
Be proud of me. I think I can say I met my mini goal for the day. I only went back for a spoonful more of vegetables.... And I had a few more sweet potato fries after my first batch...Alright, you caught me... I didn't follow through with my mini goal... I really am giving a lot of effort to do this mini goal! I just need a little more though...

I wanted a nice little treat for after supper so these Cinnamon Sugar Chips were calling my name. I also had sugar substitute that needed to be used up.

Ingredients:
1/2-1c of sugar substitute (can use real sugar)
1-2 tbsp cinnamon
3 low calorie tortilla shells...I use the Flat Out brand. (you can use more)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar and cinnamon into a bowl or plastic bag. Cut tortilla shells into different shape and sizes. Place into a medium sized bowl. Spray tortilla chips with non stick spray. Mix around the spray until each piece has been touched with the non stick spray. Dump sugar and cinnamon into tortilla bowl and mix the tortilla and sugar mix until each piece has been covered. Place onto baking sheet. Bake for about 7-8 minutes. You will want them to be crispy to get that chip effect. 

These would be perfect for dipping in frozen vanilla yogurt or even chop up some strawberries and eat them with the chips! 

 

The baked cinnamon sugar chips!

After supper my sweet tooth still wasn't satisfied. And it just so happens that I bought some of this flavored water at Target yesterday. Pina Colada is truly amazing. I want to personally thank the maker of this drink. I will be buying more. 

Mini Goals

Sorry for all the blogging today... {or am I?!?}

But, since it's a start to a new week I'm going to try out something new. Something I've never done before. 

And it's called, "Mini Goals".

I'm gonna allow myself to be a beginner and only have one goal this week. My goal is to watch my portion sizes. Portion sizes are my weakness. I'm convinced 100% that's the reason I have trouble with losing weight. I love food so much. I just want more. But, I'm gonna watch how much I eat. 

I'm counting on you guys to keep me accountable to my words! 



A little Sunday humor for your week... <3

Back on Track

In a previous post this week I was ranting about falling off the {health} wagon. So yesterday, I started over! I'm back on the health wagon {knock on wood that I have the dedication to stay on}. 

Saturday morning I started my day off with Sara Lee light bread, and some homemade honey roasted peanut butter. I was totally gonna take a picture, but I was starving and wanted to head to the gym. Forgive me?! 

I headed off to the gym and did the elliptical. And did a killer arm workout. I'm feeling it today! 

{Sorry for the quality..It's hard taking a picture while moving}

After the gym, I made up a egg white patty with a banana. The banana is not pictured because I inhaled it the second I walked through the door... For the egg white patty I used 3 egg whites, fresh spinach, and a slice of Canadian bacon. I threw all the ingredients into a egg sandwich maker {it makes an egg sandwich in 1 minute!!! It's my favorite!} and brewed myself some coffee. It was wonderful. 

 

My dog was very interested in my egg patty...  

Homemade Peanut Butter In Minutes!

Ironically, I ran out of peanut butter right as I came across this Homemade Honey Roasted Peanut Butter recipe. So I immediately wanted to try making peanut butter. Not gonna lie...I was intimidated at first... It was my first time using a food processor and I wasn't exactly sure if it would turn out.. 

Ingredients

1-1 1/2 c. of honey roasted peanuts (or whatever type of nut you want)

*Optional- 1 tbsp oil to make peanut butter creamier*

Directions

Place your peanuts into the food processor and process for about 3-4 minutes. Scrap the sides as needed during the time you are processing them. You can also add the extra oil 2 or so minutes into processing.

 I {thought} I needed more moisture into the peanuts and added vegetable oil. *The more you add oil, the more it'll become creamier. I could have gone without adding oil*

That is literally all you need to do. How simple is that?! 

Peanut Butter Banana Muffin

Today I had the day off.

Today I decided to take over the kitchen.

Today I made Peanut Butter Banana Muffins. {Inspired by Sallys Baking Addiction} 

I hope the family in my house eats them....Otherwise I'll be devouring these muffins single handedly.... 

 Photo 1

Photo 2

 Photo 3

Ingredients 
2 ripe bananas (I used three smalls ones) 
1/4 c. of honey
1/4 c. of brown sugar
1/2 c. of vanilla yogurt (you can use any type of yogurt; have fun with it!)
1 egg
1/3 unsweetened almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla. You can use any type of milk)
1/2 of peanut butter (you'll want to use more if you want a stronger peanut butter flavor)
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/3 c. of flour (I did half whole wheat and half white)
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp baking powder 
1/4 tsp salt 
*handful of chocolate chips for topping*

Directions 
Preheat oven to 425. Spray your muffins pan with PAM or non-stick cooking spray.  

In a medium sized bowl, combine mashed bananas, honey, and brown sugar. Stir these ingredients. Add yogurt, milk, peanut butter, and vanilla. Wisk all ingredients and set aside. (see photo 1)

In a large bowl, add your flour,cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Then add your wet ingredients into your large bowl and wisk until all is mixed. You will want to stop wisking the second your ingredients are mixed together! We don't want the batter to become tough. (see photo 2)

Pour batter into muffin tins. Fill them about 3/4 full. Place a few chocolate chips on top of batter if you please. :) (see photo 3)

Baking for 5 minutes on 425. Then, lower the temperature to 350 and bake for about 12 more minutes (if you're using mini muffin bake for about 8 more minutes). Once baked (use the toothpick theory...or quickly touch the top of a muffin and if it bounces back, its done!) take out of the oven and EAT! 

Links

As you may or may not have seen, I've been using a lot of Advocare products to help enhance my weight loss/health journey. And I know that you're just dying to try out some of the products! That being said, I attached the link {click on the word "Advocare" above} so you can check things out for yourself. 

New Name

Lately I've been contemplating a new name.. 

"Live to Inspire"

I chose this because, for one, I want to be held accountable to my readers to be myself and stay on the right {health} track. And for two, I really do want to inspire you all with my stories, recipes, and whatever else comes my way!

On that note, I'm gonna be 100% honest with you and come clean... I've fell off the health wagon and have splurged upon splurged. I've said, "I'll start tomorrow" and not actually start again with my healthy habits 1 too many times. And I've probably have ate enough food to last an average sized person a week... Oops.... 

{What do you guys do when you fall off the health wagon? What helps you get back on track?!}

But that's OK! I heard a quote that applies perfectly to this situation...

"You can't get back on your horse unless you fall off" 

-(I'm not exactly sure who said this, but I think Phil off of Modern Family did...)

I'm ready to hop back onto the wagon and get started into the right direction again. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

<3 Happy Valentine's Day <3

Hope you eat all the chocolate you can and share love with the people who mean the most to you! 

For my valentine's day, I made my 4th grade class something a little special.. A GIANT chocolate chip cookie! Who doesn't love a cookie larger than your head?!? 

 (My decorating skills need a little work...) 

This is seriously the easiest thing to make. All you need is your favorite cookie recipe (or brownie or cake mix that equals to a 13x9 pan) and pour/spread into the heart pan and bake for 15-20 minutes! It's so cute and perfect for a day like today!

Few of My Favorite Things

*And cue the Sound of Music soundtrack* 

Just kidding. 

In my last post I said I was gonna share more about my 24 day Challenege. So, here I am. 

First on my list is Catalyst. This is literally a gift sent from above. These little pills give you energy to DESTROY your workout. And catalyst will bring out the definition in your muscles, and who doesn't want firmer looking arms?!? Buy it. Use it. Love it.

 https://www.advocare.com/14019940/Store/ItemDetail.aspx?itemCode=T2010&id=A  

Second on my list is Spark. This is like an energy drink, but good for you! It's only 45 calories and not filled with crazy ingridients like a Diet Coke (Not hating on diet pop lovers. I, myself am a diet pop lover). Spark also helps with mental focus so you can keep your head in the game and beat that 2 pm slump. AND there's no "crash" feeling 1 hour after taking it. Spark comes in so many flavors that it's almost impossible not to love it! 

https://www.advocare.com/14019940/Store/ItemDetail.aspx?itemCode=A2095&id=E&flavor=M&size=C

My 24 day challenge results

I recently finished my Advocare 24 Day Challenge! I'm pretty content with the results.. I lost 7 pounds and I feel awesome about it! I was a 12/13 size, but now I'm a 10! And I'm currently 139 pounds. YES!

Thank you Advocare. (I'll be posting the website for their products in a little while). Advocare help start healthy habits and was really reasonable. 

These are my before and after pictures. On the left column is my before and on the right is my after. I'm gonna continue to use  Advocare's products to knock off a couple more pounds. The other thing Iovr about Advicare is that it isn't a diet, but a lifestyle. I will continue to make better choices to get more results! 

Yummy yummy sweet potatoes!

I'm just like everyone else, I love me some potatoes! I was in the {healthy} cooking mood the other night and came across a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes.. YUM! I had all the ingredients on hand so that made this recipe ever better! 

Ingredients:

3-4 medium sized sweet potatoes

1/4 cup of olive oil

2-4 tbsp of honey 

2 tsp of ground cinnamon (more or less depending on how much you like cinnamon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. *Peel and cut sweet potatoes into pieces* (I chose to not peel my sweet potatoes...Let's just say I'll be peeling them next time..) 

3. Mix all your ingredients together in a small bowl.

4. Lay cut potatoes on a roasting pan and cover potatoes with your oil, honey, and cinnamon. 

5. Roast in oven for about 25-30 mins. Or until you fork your potatoes and they're soft in the middle.

6. Take out of oven, let cool, and enjoy! 

PB&J 4 Ingredient Cookies

I was having an urge to bake something, but I didn't want to bust the diet. As I was scrolling around Pinterest I came across 4 ingredient PB&J cookies. Keep in mind there's no flour, no sugar, and no oil! {Can I get a woot, woot!?!} 

Ingredients for these healthy cookies:

2 Ripe bananas 

2 tbsp of peanut butter (I used chunky)

1 cup of oats

Jelly 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350. Place about 1 tbsp of the batter onto the cooking sheets. Bake for about 8-10 or until the edges are golden. After you take them out the oven, you'll want to press down on the middle of the cookie and place your jelly in the center. And that's all!

These are perfect for that afternoon snack, breakfast on the go, or whenever!