by | May 16, 2013

A little Buffalo, a little kale salad and a lot of wine

Happy almost weekend!!  I can’t believe it’s Thursday already.  These weeks are flying by like no other.  

Earlier this week I was in Buffalo, NY.  The trip was less than 24 hours but I managed to find the best grocery store of all time.   Normal grocery store, yet the biggest salad/hot food bar I have seen–plus a sushi bar and bulk bins.  They also had the biggest olive/pickle bar ever.  You can bet I will be going here every time I go to Buffalo. 

My cart of dinner/breakfast/lunch.  My flight was 3 hours delayed so this was an 11 pm dinner.  I was actually very surprised at how crowded this store was at 10:30 pm! 

See that all sorts licorice mix from the bulk bins?  I was so happy to find it and proceeded to eat it all that same night (minus the plain black licorice which are gross and I throw out).  Are my mom and I the only people who like that mix? 

I then stayed at the nicest Hampton Inn I have been to.  Super clean, very nice staff, really big gym (especially for Hilton’s which normally don’t have great gyms). 

Buffalo, you really won me over this week!  As you can see…it really doesn’t take much.

In other news, I totally forgot to mention that I received a wine shipment from The Wine Bar. 

They sent me 1 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc which I liked but didn’t love (although all free wine=good wine in my book).  They also sent the cutest mini bottles of Rose N Blum Pinot Grigio and Pink Moscato.  I loved both of these wines–and I mean how cute are the bottles!  They are awesome if you just want one glass of wine during the week or something.  Plus they are quite portable if you happen to be going to a byob.   I haven’t gotten to the peach bellini’s yet so I can’t speak for those. 

Definitely check the site out though–they have TONS of wine–pretty much anything you could ever want and I love how they will suggest good food pairings and even drink recipes.  I’m sorta wishing I made this with the moscato.

Last but not least, earlier this week I made a kale salad that I thought was worth sharing. Kale has grown on me a lot over the past year.  I used to not like it raw at all but now I love it! 

One good thing about kale salads is you can make them in advance and they actually taste better that way.  The longer the dressing soaks into the kale–the better.  The downside is that you need a lot of dressing (or at least I think so).  

Strawberry and Quinoa Kale Salad

-1/2 bag of kale (trader joe’s sells bagged kale–worth the extra price in my opinion since kale is a pain otherwise)

-6-8 strawberries

-2 t olive oil

-3 t balsamic vinegar

-1/4-1/2 cup quinoa

-1/4 cup chopped walnuts

First, make the dressing by pureeing half the strawberries with the olive oil and vinegar.   Pour the dressing on the kale and stir to make sure all the leaves are covered.  Stick this in the fridge while you prepare the quinoa–that way it will get about 30 minutes or so to ‘marinade’.  Once the quinoa is done, add however much you like to the salad–I like to have just a little bit so it’s still a kale salad with quinoa and not a quinoa salad with kale.  If that makes any sense at all.  Chop the walnuts and strawberries and whatever else you want and add!  This would be great with feta too, I just didn’t have any. 

The next 2 weeks are crazy travel weeks for me–so I will be back as often as I can even if it’s for a quick recap.

Have a great weekend guys!

Katie

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by | May 14, 2013

Spring Mix Fruit Salad

I made a really delicious salad yesterday.  Craig has been known to mention he prefers not to have fruit for dinner, which includes salads or entrees.  This salad was good enough that he thought I should share the recipe and make it again sometime soon.  That’s pretty high praise from someone that avoids fruit at dinner.  He definitely liked it more than the previous day’s salad, violets and baby spring mix.  I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the violet salad, the violets didn’t really add much flavor but they looked very pretty, so if you have violets growing in your yard, they grow like weeds in our yard, it’s a great way to add a bit of color to your meal.  If you’ve never tried violets, be brave and give them a try.  My favorite edible flower is nasturtium, I have yet to try a tastier edible flower but I’ll keep you posted!  For more violet ideas, check out the American Violet Society website.

Give this salad a try, it’s is oh so pretty and has a nice mix of flavors.  I think pecans would make a nice substitution for the almonds but I’m still working my way through a giant bag of almonds.  If apricots aren’t in season, peaches, plums or nectarines would fill the bill.

Salad

4 or 6 cups baby spring mix.

2 apricots, cut into wedges

8 or 10 strawberries, hulled and cut into wedges

1 avocado, peeled, pit removed and cut into bite size pieces

¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

¼ cup almonds

Dressing

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

Toss all salad ingredients in large salad bowl.  In smaller bowl, whisk dressing ingredients until blended.  Toss salad with dressing and enjoy.

 

 

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by | May 9, 2013

Trip to Philly

What a week so far! Earlier this week I was in Philadelphia for work–this was my first time there and though my initial experience was not great, I really enjoyed the rest of my time.

I got in fairly late on Sunday and drove over to my hotel.  The lobby was nice enough but when I got to the upstairs hallway it was so gross–literally looked like the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed in years. Debris everywhere and a door a few down from mine looked like someone had tried to break into it!! 

 On top of that, my room had stained carpet and stained sheets.   The room was small and dark and just totally grossed me out.  I am not always able to be too picky when it comes to the hotels I stay at for work, so I don’t mind basic (read: cheap) hotels…but they at least need to be clean!!  This one was clearly not.  I also noticed that I got not 1, not 2, but 3 offers to get a ton of (cough Starwood cough) points if I declined having my room cleaned.  I get the whole ‘going green’ thing, but asking so often sort of reads of a housekeeping shortage, no?

I thought about having to be in the gross little room for two whole days and just knew I couldn’t do it.   I am by no means a germaphobe and I couldn’t bring myself to even take my shoes out in this room.  I also had picked up a salad from Whole Foods on the way in from the airport and was so grossed out I literally couldn’t eat it.  You guys, that NEVER happens to me.  I am almost always able to eat and I also hate to waste food.  So, when I’m throwing out almost an entire $15 Whole Foods salad, that’s when you know sh** is bad haha.

Luckily I was able to cancel my second night and I moved over to the Hyatt at the Bellevue.  This hotel was also old with older rooms but it was SUCH a world of difference. The room was light with tall ceilings and didn’t feel like a cave.   I also thought the hotel had a pretty cool history–I won’t bore you with all of the details but it has been opened and closed quite a few times and was completely gutted and redone after 34 people died of legionaire’s disease in 1977.  But, they definitely stayed true to the initial design and the interiors are really beautiful.  The only downside was that I was super paranoid about it being haunted and refused to google and see if it was haunted until after I left. That stuff creeps me out big time.  

I would highly recommend this hotel–the staff was so friendly and though yes, the room still had some issues since it is such an old hotel (plumbing is loud, walls are thin, etc), I honestly was just so happy to be in a big, airy and CLEAN room that it was all that mattered. 

But, best of all, the hotel was connected to a super nice gym–The Sporting Club at the Bellevue which is apparently the number 2 gym in the US.  So I was pretty happy when I got to use the gym and take classes for free, woo!

 I took a Pilates class and used cardio equipment and the indoor track. They also had a Pilates reformer just chilling by the track so I took full advantage and made up my own workout on that (gyms almost never let you use reformers for free!!).  

This pic is probably so blurry from the ghosts!! :)

On top of hotel talk, I also had a little time to spare on my first afternoon and went to the Reading Terminal Market which was recommended to me by my mom’s friend MB.  Thanks for the recommendation MB!  Apparently this place is the longest running Farmer’s Market in the US–and I would have never known about this place and I’m so glad I was able to go! 

 

source

It basically is a huge market with a lot of stalls that sell pre-made food (lots of ethnic food, a couple of places selling cheesesteaks, a few delis, sushi, etc) plus a lot of stalls more for the locals selling fresh meat, seafood, produce and the like.  I really enjoyed walking around and ended up buying a reuben and matzo ball soup from a deli that I had seen was highly rated.  The reuben was huge and really good–although the matzo ball soup was just okay.  It was so much food that it lasted me for lunch and dinner!  

I walked a little bit around the city–or at least around the area I was in, and I’m glad I had time to do that too–I always think the best way to see a city is to walk or run.

My lesson of the week was try not to travel on a Sunday when I can help it (which is rarely).  It makes the week drag like no other.  Tonight I have some big plans to grocery shop for the first time in weeks.  I’m home for a whole 6 days!  Maybe I’ll even post a recipe or something. 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Katie

 

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by | May 8, 2013

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

With summer just around the corner I’m on the hunt for some great meals to make on the grill.  I also had an abundance of mangoes.  I just bought 3 at the fruit market and the very next day more arrived in the door to door organics box.  I love door to door organics, it’s a fun surprise every time a box arrives, I often receive produce I might not buy and it forces me to try new things.  So, with pork tenderloin in the refrigerator and a pile of mangoes, pork tenderloin with mango salsa was a no brainer.  This was great, it is definitely worth repeating.  This would make a perfect Mother’s Day dinner to wow your Mom with.  If you have a prepared jerk seasoning on hand, by all means use that.  If you can’t find any on the grocery store and you don’t have any on hand, it’s easy enough to mix up your own blend that keeps nicely for months and is great on chicken.  I know it has lots of ingredients, include as many as you have on hand in the mixture, you don’t have to include every single one.

Jerk Seasoning

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

 

Pork tenderloin (2 or 3 pounds)

2 tablespoons dried jerk seasoning

Juice of 2 limes

Salsa

1 mango, peeled and diced

½ cup diced bell pepper (about ½ of a large bell pepper)

1/3 cup diced red onion (about ½ of a medium onion)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon dried mint or 1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped

Juice of one lime

Mix all ingredients for jerk seasoning together and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Squeeze lime juice over pork.  Sprinkle jerk seasoning onto pork until all sides are covered with seasoning.  Add a bit extra is needed to cover.  Preheat grill.

Prepare salsa while grill heats.  Add all ingredients to small bowl and toss until well mixed.  Set aside and allow flavors to blend while pork grills.

Grill pork over medium high heat on gas grill, turning over every 3 or 4 minutes until all sides are browned.  Cook until internal temperature reaches 160 to 170 degrees.

 

 

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by | April 30, 2013

California hippie

Hello, how is everyone’s week going?  I am currently in Sacramento for work (well probably by the time this posts I will be on my way back home).    Before that, I went to Palm Springs for the weekend with two of my best girlfriends from college that I rarely get to see.  Although I do get semi-tired of all the travel sometimes and definitely complain about it too,  the great thing is that it allows me to see friends who are in or near the cities I’m traveling to that I otherwise wouldn’t see as often.  Since I was doing a Monday morning visit for work, I decided to come out to California a few days early and met up with friends who were both within driving distance.  We had such a great weekend!  I wish we got to see each other more often. 

We stayed at the Saguaro in Palm Springs –this was my first time in Palm Springs and I loved it.  It was h-0-t but that was okay with us because we spent all day at the (colorful) pool.  

For the most part I really liked this hotel and would recommend it–you can’t beat the views either!

Good:  I loved the colors, that was a major selling point :) , the room was just a regular non-suite room but it was really big.  Also the pool was right in the center of everything and had great mountain views.  And for the most part, the staff was really nice and helpful.

 Bad: not too much bad, although the checkout is kinda early considering it’s a resort and people are paying resort fee’s for the whole day (and therefore they should make it easier to stay the whole day), I can see how the pool could become wayyyy too crowded in prime season–it isn’t very big.  But, we got chairs with no problem both days because we were outside by 9 AM.   Also the layout of the hotel is really confusing and sorta roundabout–they don’t make it easy to get to your room, that’s for sure. 

We had some great meals while we were there.  For lunch both days we went to Native Foods since it was right across the street–can’t go wrong there!  Native Foods probably deserves it’s own post because I love it so much.   For dinner, we ate both nights in Palm Springs and walked around downtown.  The first night we ate at Lulu Bistro and I had a tuna and avocado stack and a wedge salad.  Random combo but both were delicious.  I didn’t realize the salad was going to be ginormous.  I probably could have eaten the wedge alone and been full–but I powered through.

The second night we got Mexican food at Las Casuelas-which someone at the hotel recomended. Seriously great Mexican and we each paid 12 dollars total for some of the best mexican food I have had.  The tacos were amazing–fried shells so not even close to healthy which is why they were so good :) .  We also had a debate on the best kind of guacamole.  The one this restaurant served was very creamy–because it had cream cheese in it.  I am more  of a fan of the kind with tomatoes, onions, garlic, etc but this one was really good too.  If you like creamy guac, give it a try–the cream cheese is apparently their secret ingredient–and i never would have guessed that was what was in it!

Sunday evening I had to head up to Sacramento.  I was sad to leave but happy we got to spend the weekend together! I thought this was cool….

The Palm Springs airport is outside!  You go inside to get through security and then back outside to get to the gates.  

Next up is Sacramento.  I stayed at the Hyatt Regency which was really nice–the lobby is very nice, cool bar and restaurant although the hallways upstairs to get to the rooms are super dark and creepy.  But the room was nice and the bed was really comfortable.   Plus the hotel has an outdoor pool and a fairly big gym so major points for those.   I also got to walk to work!  My site was only .8 miles from the hotel so I decided to walk it.  The woman at the front desk led me astray and gave me the wrong directions so I probably walked an extra mile or so–but it was a great way to see the city.   

From what I have seen, I really like Sacramento!  There seem to be a ton of really cool restaurants and bars and the thing I like is that it is a bigger city but doesn’t feel like it.  It still has tons of parks and trees–most of the city streets are lined with trees and it sort of feels like Melbourne in some ways (where I studied abroad), so no wonder I like it.  I’m not here for too long but hopefully can explore a little more next time.

The reason I am a hippie now?  Well, I had to laugh when I found a co-op grocery store and pulled up in my (rented) Prius :) .  I got a really good salad from the only type of bar I have been hitting up lately + tofu ‘toveggie balls’ + a sencha shot of green tea and lots of bulk items. 

If that means I’m a hippie, I’m ok with it.  Minus the prius. I don’t know why I dislike that car so much but I do–I have gotten it on 3 separate occassions now too. Lame!   But, the co-op was pretty awesome–first time I have seen a mini tejava bottle (only 80 cents!).  Also, I don’t eat tofu much because it sometimes makes me sick but I really wanted to try these and I felt fine after eating them!  I planned to eat half and that plan failed because these are so flipping good.   Looks like they are local and made by Tofu Yu–but I hope I can find something like them at home.  They are all natural–with no shady ingredients–made from tofu, potato, carrot, daikon, rice, onion, celery, soybean oil, salt and ginger.  All natural, no sugar, minimal carbs and 23g protein per serving.  Also that sencha shot was nasty.  The apple cider vinegar drink was good though–separate post coming on ACV. 

Alright this post is super long so sorry about that.  But since I’m averaging less than one post a week, I gotta make them count, right? :)

Katie

 

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by | April 29, 2013

Rice and Mango Salad

This salad was a perfect side dish to serve with baby back ribs but it makes a great stand-alone meal all on its own.  It’s another one of those salads that can be made a day or so ahead and is great to pack and take to work for lunch.  There are quite a few ingredients but feel free to edit out ingredients that aren’t on the top of your favorite list.  If making this a day or so ahead, add a bit more lemon juice (about a tablespoon) and perhaps a teaspoon of olive oil, you can skip the oil if you are watching calories.  This would be a perfect dish to pack for a picnic or summer potlucks.  I used a premixed package of long grain and wild rice because I wanted to simplify the cooking of the rice but I wish the mixture I choose had a bit more wild rice and less long grain.  You could use just one type of rice or the other.  I love the fact that this salad is loaded with flavors and colors, not only does it tastes great, it looks great on a plate.  I used Almond Accents sea salt and cracked pepper flavored almonds.  The sea salt and pepper added a nice extra bit of flavor but plain almonds would certainly work well too.

 

1 cup long grain and wild rice

2 cups water

¼ cup quinoa

1 mango, peeled and diced

½ English cucumber, peeled and diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

3 green onions, trimmed and sliced

½ red bell pepper, diced

¼ cup flat leaf parsley

1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Add rice to saucepan with 2 cups water.  Follow package directions for cooking time for rice and 15 minutes before rice is finished add quinoa for pan and continue cooking.  If rice/quinoa looks dry at this point, add another ¼ cup water to pan.  After cooking time for rice is complete, remove pan from heat and leave covered.

Add the remainder of ingredients to large mixing bowl and stir until all ingredients are well blended.  Stir rice into the mixture and refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

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by | April 23, 2013

Greek Pasta Salad with Shrimp

After a vacation from cooking (a wonderful week in Florida) I’m ready for spring to arrive in Michigan and I made a quick and easy pasta salad using chives fresh from the herb garden.  If you’re not crazy about shrimp give this a try anyway.  It’s great without the shrimp or substitute diced chicken for the shrimp.  This is loaded with flavor but not fat!  I used itty bitty frozen shrimp for this recipe.  I like to keep them in the freezer, they thaw quickly and come packaged in 4 ounce bags, so it’s easy to make smaller sized dishes.  This makes a great dinner all on its own and left overs are perfect to pack for lunch the next day.

2 cups cooked pasta

4 ounces frozen shrimp, thawed and drained

1 cup English cucumber, peeled and diced (about a half of a cucumber)

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved if desired

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon dried dill

2 tablespoons chopped chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients in large bowl and enjoy!

Here are a few pictures from sunny Florida!

There were some serious teeth on this fellow, glad we didn’t meet up when he was still trolling the waters.

 

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by | April 22, 2013

Finally back!

Hey friends, sorry for being MIA these past few weeks!  I have been traveling a lot and my mom also was gone bc she took a trip to Florida. Last week I was in Minneapolis for one night and then Monday night I flew from Minneapolis to Houston, and I was there until Thursday night. 

I stayed at the downtown Hyatt in Minneapolis which was not as great as my last experience but still was a pretty nice hotel.  I’m pretty sure the gym was a gym that people outside the hotel pay for/go to, it was huge.  This is only 1 of the 5 rooms:

 The only room no one was in so I didn’t feel like a total creeper taking a picture.  They had just about every weight machine ever plus tons of cardio machines.  And a full basketball court! So that part was cool, I got in a good weight workout, doing jump rope in between each set of weights. 

I have to show you the pool–strangest thing ever.    They had some of the rooms with balconies overlooking the pool area.  Probably for families or something so that they could be staying right by the pool area.  Sounds nice, right?

Um not so much….here are the rooms overlooking the pool….

Here is the pool:

This seriously made me laugh so hard, I cannot get over it.  I would have been totally creeped out if my room was attached in any way to that bomb shelter looking pool area.

But, more about food–eating while traveling has actually not been as difficult to navigate as I originally expected–but, it does take a little bit of planning.  I flew Delta out of Minneapolis and if you ever fly into Minneapolis, make sure you fly into terminal one.   I was walking around looking for a salad or something for dinner and found a salad bar!!  I literally had just thought to myself two days before that I wondered why airports didn’t have salad bars (probably bc of the massive amounts of people that it takes constant upkeep) but here one was!  Not only that, but on top of the salad bar, I looked across the way and saw self serve fro-yo!

It’s so hard to find healthy food in airports.  I think this is so cool that this airport had a ton of healthy options–including things like popchips and lots of healthy bars (not just the junky ones with a lot of sugar).   But, naturally I got some fro-yo instead and piled candy on top

They also have ipads on every table for people to use which is pretty cool.   Although also germs galore!   I noticed I am becoming more of a germaphobe than I ever have been before–but hopefully that will keep me from getting sick every two seconds. 

When I got to Houston I was so excited to see that Hertz gave me an awesome car!  I was cruising in style for 3 days, that’s for sure…

 

Ugh…this is the SECOND time that Hertz has given me this same van.  As I approached the aisle and saw it, I just knew it was going to be mine. Last I checked Hertz, I am not a family of 4 and do not need a mini van for business travel.

I was also staying at a Hampton Inn which I was a little nervous about because they can be fairly hit or miss.  I was really pleasantly surprised with this one!  It was a pretty big suite with a desk, couch/chairs and a full kitchen with a full sized fridge and table.  Since I was there for 3 days, it was nice to have a fridge and be able to buy my breakfast/lunches ahead of time. 

Which brings me to my Whole Foods purchases of last week.   The Whole Foods I went to was pretty awesome and I took full advantage.  Since I was expensing my meals, I decided to do the salad bar thing–I made one for dinner and another for lunch…

That’s an 18 dollar salad right there, so I made sure to enjoy it.  I packed a ton of stuff into there, I couldn’t even finish the whole thing which never happens to me. 

I bought this for dessert:

Hail Merry products are a little bit pricey, but worth it for a splurge every once and awhile.  They are made with all natural ingredients.  This tart was really good–although still fairly high in calories.  It was pretty big size though– I ate half for dessert and half for breakfast. 

On my way home, I flew out of Houston Hobby airport which had pretty slim pickins in terms of healthy eating.  As I was about to go to Wendy’s and order a taco salad (one of my fav’s), I saw that the chinese food place had a cool salad bar.  Instead of the usual offerings, they had steamed broccoli, peanuts, mandarin oranges, beets, pineapple, lettuce, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, baby corn, shaved cucumber etc etc.  All things you would normally see served with chicken and drenched in sauce.  So, I made my own salad and had it with a ginger dressing.  It was SO good!

Last but not least, I found these at TJ Maxx in Houston and was very excited…

Awhile back, my mom bought me a La Fresh travel kit with little travel packets of deodarant wipes, nail polish remover wipes, face wash and face lotion wipes…She had gotten them from TJ’s but neither of us could ever find them there again!  I saw these and knew I had to buy them.   I love the little packets for travel.  

Not only to pack to use each day, but they are also great to use right before you get on a plane–flying makes me breakout, so since I average 2 or 3 flights a week, I really need to watch my skin and I’m trying to be better about taking my makeup off before I fly AND moisturize too.  I have read that breaking out while flying is due to the extreme dryness in the cabin (very low humidity) so if you are flying, make sure to moisturize and drink lots and lots of water too.  My skin is already prone to dryness, so I’m sure flying doesn’t help.  This skin routine does not always happen–it depends how rushed/lazy I am.  But at least these wipes make it a little easier.  

So, there is my recap of the past week.  It was a long one but I am getting more used to being on the go which is good.  Look for me cruising in a Mazda 5 in a city near you soon!  :)

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by | April 11, 2013

Sunflower butter no bake protein balls

Ever since Easter I have been on a chocolate kick.  Once I start eating a lot of chocolate, it’s hard to stop.  It’s fine once in awhile but there has been leftover chocolate at work literally everyday since Easter and I need to get a handle on my chocolate consumption–not only does too much sugar give me migraines, but it also makes me break out.  Yet, even knowing this I continue to eat large quantities of it.  Hmmmm….

While on my chocolate kick, I bought chocolate covered sunflower seeds from Trader Joe’s.  I also bought sunflower butter.  I used to loveeee this stuff (remember these cookies–also awesome?) but lately I have been sticking to almond butter–and not even eating much of it at that.

So, in an effort to make something dessert like, and similar to the sunbutter cookies, but still healthy, I threw together some ingredients and it turned out really well so I wanted to share. They are no bake and full of good ingredients.

This is a small batch because knowing my chocolate eating habits, I didn’t want to have too many sitting around, but you could always double it.

Here are the ingredients…

To make, you just combine 1/4 cup sunflower butter (or peanut butter would work too), 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 T chia seeds, 1/2 T hemp seeds, 1 t melted coconut oil, 1/2 scoop protein powder (I used chocolate) and a handful of chocolate covered sunflower seeds.  Mix everything together and then roll into balls.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes or so and then eat!  They will also keep in the fridge for at least a few days.  This recipe will make 6–so adjust accordingly.

These seem fairly versatile–you could always double up on the chia seeds and not use hemp seeds if you don’t have both.  Trader Joe’s recently started selling chia seeds for cheaper than I have seen them elsewhere–I think they are like 4 bucks a bag instead of 10 which I have seen some places.  Plus, you don’t need to use a ton at once to get the health benefits so the bag will last a long time.  Chia seeds have a ton of fiber and lots of omega 3′s too (a great way to get omega 3′s for people who don’t like seafood!).  Plus iron and lots of magnesium–which is good for preventing headaches!  Can’t say enough good things about em.

Try these!  They are delish–a great breakfast, dessert or snack and 100% guilt free.

Katie

 

 

 

 

 

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by | April 10, 2013

Zesty Pasta Salad with Ham

Here’s a pasta salad that’s a bit different.  The mayonnaise rather than oil and vinegar was a nice change and the Dijon mustard adds a nice kick to make this a zesty pasta salad.  I’ve never added ham to a pasta salad before and I really enjoyed it.  I had this with a tossed salad and a slice of French bread and it was a perfect quick dinner.  This can easily be made a day ahead.  It holds up very nicely in the refrigerator and leftovers make a great packable lunch.

I didn’t have any celery in the house and would love to have added celery.  I’ve included it in the recipe as it would be a nice addition.  When I’m making pasta for one dish, I like to make extra and have it ready to use in the refrigerator for later in the week.  That made this a really quick and easy dinner. I hope you give this a try and enjoy it as much as I did.

4 cups cooked pasta (about 7 ounces dried)

1 cup diced ham

1 cup diced bell pepper

½ cup diced celery

1/3 cup peeled and sliced carrot

1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

¼ cup diced red onion

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried dill

Add cooked pasta, ham, bell pepper, celery, carrot, parsley, onion and shredded cheese to large mixing bowl.  Add mayonnaise, vinegar, Dijon mustard and dill to small mixing bowl and stir until well blended.  Add mayonnaise mixture to large missing bowl and toss until well mixed and pasta is evenly coated with mayo mixture.

 

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