You know I love to complain about how expensive granola is.
Ever since I started eating clean, I have been a granola fiend. Granola makes me super happy – but my wallet? Not so much.
My fam has been telling me for months that I should make my own, but since granola-making seemed like a foreign art to me, I stuck with buying a bag a week from Whole Paycheck Foods for seven bucks a pop.
But I finally gave in last week and forced my brother to send me the recipe for homemade granola that he and his gf use.
I changed it around a teensy bit and love the results! It tastes just as good as the store-bought stuff, but at half the price.
Yay for cost efficient granola!
Ingredients:
3 cups rolled oats
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup milled flaxseed
1/4 cup prunes
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300F.
Stir together oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Add canola oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Mix everything up with your hands.
Spread the mixture in a thin, even layer on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and pour back into the mixing bowl. Stir in pecans and flaxseed, then put back in oven for 15 minutes.
Take the baking sheets out of the oven and stir in prunes.
Thanks as always to the newly preggers Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
No-Bake Cookie Dough Bites
Though I was totally down for some “dirty eating” on girl’s night last Friday [insert Ben and Jerry’s pint here], my BFF Nancy steered me back in the right direction. 🙂 I’m glad she did, because these no-bake cookie dough balls were just as tasty as any ‘real’ junk food.
Thanks for inspiring this clean eating recipe, Nance! (And for making most of it….)
This recipe was adapted from Averie Cooks.
Ingredients:
- 2/3 C cashews
- 1/3 C oats
- 2 tbsp agave nectar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C dark chocolate chips
Yields approximately 14 cookie dough balls
Directions:
Pour cashews and oats in to blender and blend into a flour-like consistency.
Add the agave nectar and vanilla extract.
Blend again.
Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
Transfer dough into a medium bowl and roll into balls.
I’m totes bringing a second batch of these babies to book club! Get excited, ladies.
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
FitKit Guest Post: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Want to see the very first recipe that I created myself?
If your answer is yes….then head over the FitKit blog that I’ve mentioned before, and find out how to make it!
If features dark chocolate chips and is chock full of protein – just sayin’.
Recipe Roundup
I had something fun in the works for you today for What I Ate Wednesday, but it didn’t end up happening.
Since I don’t have a cool new recipe to post, I figured I’d go old school and roundup my past recipes for you!
I promise to eventually add these to a page at the top of the blog for easy access.
Maybe it will give you something new to make this week. 😉
Breakfast
Breakfast Burrito
Overnight Oats
Entrees
Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Cheat Day Chili
Crabby Summer Salad
End of Summer Pasta Salad
Grilled Chicken Kabobs
Pesto Pasta Salad with Chicken
Quinoa Sliders
Sides
Quinoa Pizza Bites
Red Potatoes
Snacks/Dessert
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones
Chocolate Covered Apple Wedges
Dark Chocolate Turtles
No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites
Smoothies
Blueberry Bread
Lately (ok, ever since the Holidays) I have been eating a shit ton of store bought treats for snacks at work. Power bar after power bar and cookies galore.
It’s a lot easier to just buy already made and packaged snacks at the grocery store to take on the go.
This needs to stop asap.
Remember when I used to bring homemade pumpkin protein bars and vegan scones everywhere?
I need to get back into that habit.
- It’s healthier – you know exactly what is in your food – all natural, nothing processed.
- It’s cheaper – each baking episode yields way more food than buying individual bars at the store.
The problem is that I’m tired of the old recipes I used to make.
Cue new delicious and nutritious blueberry bread! I’m definitely taking this as my afternoon snack this week.
Recipe adapted from The Lemon Bowl.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup blueberries – fresh or frozen
- 1/3 cup splenda or sugar substitute
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 2/3 cups low fat vanilla yogurt
- 3 eggs (use 2 eggs, 1 egg white)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350°F and grease a bread pan with cooking spray.
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl: oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, sugar, and wheat germ.
Beat together eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract on medium speed with a mixer. Gently stir in the dry ingredients.
Fold blueberries into the batter and pour into the bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
Let the bread cool completely before serving.
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
The Chronicles of Tofu
I was talking to my BFF Vicki the other day and she was telling me about how I should try tofu.
Tofu? Hmmmm.
But then she told me:
- it tastes like nothing
- it costs $3.00 for a block of it = cheap ass protein
- it absorbs soy sauce really well
Trust me, I surprised myself too when I started wandering around the aisles of Giant looking for tofu.
Not ashamed (well…maybe a little ashamed) that it took me approximately 17 minutes of wandering to find it.
I had no idea whether it was in the frozen section, the coldish section near the eggs, or sittin’ on the shelves next to the ramen. I was even too embarrassed to ask a worker where it was, since I didn’t want to look like a wide-eyed dumbass next to the ramen.
Once I finally found the tofu aisle, there were so many options to choose from. Extra lite tofu? Extra firm tofu? Wtf.
I settled for middle-of-the-road FIRM.
Lies.
It was not firm.
A little less gross than cooking raw chicken though. Speaking of chicken, I only semi-freaked out had to double check that I didn’t need to cook the tofu for a certain amount of time in order not to get salmonella. Thank god for Google.
I tried to cut it into little pieces like the kind that come in Pad Thai.
But it turned into the kind that looks like cat food.
The result:
I can’t decide whether I like it or not.
Vicki was right about the above bullet points, but I’m not so sure about the texture.
I think I need to try EXTRA EXTRA FIRM next time.
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
What is your opinion on tofu?
Love it? Hate it? What do you eat it with?
Magic Anti-Flu Tea
We’re in the midst of flu season, which makes me paranoid. I’ve already had a cold recently and couldn’t do my long run, so I better not get sick again until April!
My foodie aunt found a magic tea that protects you from the flu. I had one every single day last week, and it’s working so far!
Ingredients:
- green tea
- 1 lemon slice
- a pinch of cayenne pepper
- a small handful of goji berries
- 1 squirt of honey
How is it magic? Look at all the benefits of what’s in it!
Green Tea
“Green tea’s health benefits — particularly its potential to fight cancer and heart disease — has been more than intriguing, as have limited studies about green tea’s role in lowering cholesterol, burning fat, preventing diabetes and stroke, and staving off dementia” (source).
Lemon
“The two biggest are lemons’ strong antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-boosting powers and their use as a weight loss aid because lemon juice is a digestive aid and liver cleanser. Lemons contain many substances–notably citric acid, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, bioflavonoids, pectin, and limonene–that promote immunity and fight infection” (source).
Cayenne Pepper
Though cayenne pepper has many health benefits, some specifically relate to the flu.
“Cayenne pepper aids in breaking up and moving congested mucus. Once mucus begins to leave the body, generally relief from flu symptoms follows”(source).
Goji Berries
I didn’t know that goji berries existed before last week! Why are they healthy? They’re full of antioxidants, which “boost the immune system and lower cholesterol”(source).
Honey
Honey is an immune booster. It has a “type of antioxidant that helps to protect cells from free radical damage. It can also contribute to heart health as well as protect against cancer”(source).
All I know is if you need me – you can find me chugging this tea all week!
Getting Location
I realized yesterday that the Shamrock Half Marathon is in less than two months!
That is kind of terrifying.
I did feel more like a real runner this past weekend though because I finally got to use my brand-new Garmin Forerunner 10 that my dad got for me for Christmas!
It is pretty cool that I will be able to show you sweet charts and stats from my runs now – though I may not want to because they are embarrassingly slow. But I did read in Runner’s World that the first few years of distance running are about building your mileage, not freaking out about your time.
Of course I messed up the stats from my first Garmin run. I accidentally pressed “save run” in the middle of it, so the run was split into two separate stats!
The lap button also seems to hate me because it said I did 13 laps and I only ran 6 miles. Whoops. I’ll have to figure that out this weekend
It is interesting that I am not at all concerned with my times with the Garmin, but waaay more concerned about my pace (and distance, of course).
The other very exciting part of my run on Sunday was the new trail I ran on! I finally ventured over to the very flat, very awesome trail leading into D.C. near Tuna’s house.
It had such cool scenery – like this ancient brick tunnel.
I’m definitely going to start running on this trail more often. Can spring please come asap so it won’t get dark at 5pm and we can all run on the trails outside all night long?
I refueled this weekend with Tuna’s cheesy chicken. He had the genius idea to shove a bunch of cheddar cheese inside of it.
I may start shoving cheddar cheese inside all of my food.
Do you use a Garmin?
Are there any good trails to run on near you?
DNF Banana Chips
Ummm…guys? I have something to tell you.
I had a What I Ate Wednesday fail. #wiawfail
I made a new recipe to brag about today and it sucked.
Here’s the deal.
Last night I attempted to make banana chips. You know, the kind at the store for like $5.99? Well, I was really excited because I saw a homemade recipe for them online.
I’m not going to tell you which blog I found it on because I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus.This is serious business.
This was the recipe (basically):
Ingredients:
- 3 or 4 bananas
- 1 lemon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200º F
- Slice bananas
- Squeeze lemon juice on banana slices
- Bake the bananas for 90 minutes
Easy enough, right? How hard can it be to chop up some bananas and put them in the oven?
Hard, apparently.
They were slimy and gross and smelled like rotten bananas. I thought they might harden in the fridge overnight. Nope. They just made my apartment smell like rotten bananas.
I feel like it has got to be the recipe though…or perhaps I am just cursed when it comes to bananas.
Anyway, why am I posting a shitty recipe?
Let’s think about this from a running blog perspective. If I ran a marathon (ha) and didn’t finish it (DNF in running lingo), I would probably still post about my marathon and how it sucked and what I leaned from it.
It should be the same thing for food blogs, don’t you think? Not everything you make is going to be delicious. Blogs shouldn’t just about our successes – they’re about our failures too.
I’ve tried some new recipes lately that I am just not a fan of. I could refrain from posting anything I don’t really love, but I want to! I want to show you what I did and share
my thoughts with you.
Ok, so my thoughts this week: What I Learned From My DNF banana chips…
I need to start making my own recipes.
Let’s get confident in our food skills and be creative. Who’s with me?!?
Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!
FitKit Monthly Guest Post – How to: Make A Frittata
Remember when I told you about FitKit awhile ago?
FitKit is a place where nutrition is made personal for everyone. Their mission is to build a community around making health and fitness transparent.
I’m super pumped because I’m going to be a monthly contributor to the FitKit blog!
Want to know how to make a frittata? Of course you do….
Check out my guest post here!
Chicken Nugget Girl 