Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie

Ok, so this smoothie is so good, even my cat is addicted!  Lol.  I should inform you that Lolo loves yogurt.  Every time I eat it, she needs some.  So, when I make this smoothie, she really needs it.  (Please excuse my "unedited" morning face and pj's!)

The great thing about smoothies is that you can easily alter them to match your tastes.  Here are the ingredients that I used, but keep in mind that you can very easily change things out.  One suggestion I would make is to choose a yogurt that you like the flavor of.  Yogurt is a big part of the smoothie, so a flavored yogurt can go a long way in changing the taste.  I really love Publix Wild Berry Crumb Cake yogurt because it has a bit of berry flavor and some spice to it.  Yum!

Healthy Berry Banana Smoothie
Makes: one 16ish ounce smoothie

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen berries (I used unsweetened strawberries)
1/2 - 1 frozen banana (depending on how strong of a banana flavor you like)
6 ounces yogurt (I love Publix Fat Free Light Wild Berry Crumb Cake)
1/2 cup your choice of milk (more if it's too thick)
1 tablespoon honey
Small handful of almonds

Directions:
Add the ingredients to the blender in the order listed.  Then blend well until smooth.  Enjoy!

Healthy, Protein-Rich, Customizable Pancakes! {Wednesday Wins}

Seriously... the title says it all.  These pancakes are a major win!

 

Now, I'm not a crazy pancake fanatic.  For a long time growing up, I didn't even eat pancakes.  They're so dense that I always felt like I was going to throw up after I ate them.  Too much information?!  Sorry, moving on...

But now, I eat them; I just have to been "in the mood" for pancakes.  Sometimes they still sound awful, but other times, they sound pretty good.  So, the other day, they sounded good, mainly because I ran across this amazing recipe for healthier pancakes!  Key: they have a secret, protein-rich ingredient!

So, that morning, I whipped up some plain pancakes for breakfast, and surprisingly, they tasted just like regular pancakes!  I kept telling Thomas as he sat down to eat while I was flipping the last two... "If they taste funny, you don't have to eat them.  I promise, it won't hurt my feelings.  Are you sure they don't taste weird?"  He kept assuring me that they were very normal tasting pancakes, but I just couldn't fully believe it until I tried one.  Wow!  No weirdness at all!

So, a few days later, I changed it up and made blueberry pancakes.  And believe it or not... those were delicious too!  So, I know you're dying to know what this mystery, secret ingredient is... so I'll tell you.

Yogurt!  And not just plain yogurt either, you can use any flavor you want based on the flavor of pancakes you want to make!  Huh!  I just love Publix fat free yogurt (so high in protein, and no fat!).  So the first time, for plain pancakes, I used vanilla yogurt (my favorite flavor).  And then with the blueberry pancakes, I used blueberry yogurt (which is why the pancakes look a little blue) and mixed in some fresh blueberries!  Yum!

The original recipe called for greek yogurt.  But I do NOT like greek yogurt, so I just tried it with my regular stuff.  Since they turned out great, I think you could use whatever kind you like!  And the flavor and mix-in options are ENDLESS!

Yogurt Pancakes
Adapted from: Family Fresh Meals
Makes 5 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces yogurt (Greek, regular, fat free, any flavor you like... the possibilities are endless)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• A mix-in, optional (any fruit would be great, or chocolate chips for a less-healthy option)

Directions:

1. Stir together the yogurt, honey, and egg in a medium bowl.
2. Add in baking soda and flour; stir until combined.
3. Fold in fruit (or sprinkle onto pancakes once they're on the griddle).
4. Heat a skillet or griddle to medium heat.  Drop pancakes into the skillet using a 1/4 cup measuring cup.  The batter is very thick, so you'll need to spread it out with a spoon a little.
5. Cook on each side for 2-4 minutes depending on your stove heat.  If they are underdone, the middle will still have a yogurt-ey texture, so make sure the heat isn't too high that the outsides are done but the insides are still raw.
6. Add a little butter and syrup or more healthy options if you like and enjoy! 

Delicious!!!  I hope you like them!

Funfetti Dip {Sunday Fun Day}

Woot woot!  Today was a lovely Sunday!!!  (Side bar: has anybody picked up on the fact that I love the word "lovely" yet?!)  Let's count off some things I loved about today:

1. My breakfast yogurt parfait was delish!  Publix Vanilla Yogurt, fresh strawberries, and Oatmeal Squares (these are a great crunch to yogurt when I don't have any granola made).  Yummy!
2. I just really love our church.  God has really blessed us with some great Godly people to surround ourselves with.  You all know who you are!
3. A calm afternoon of hanging out with the hubby and preparing for our trip to St. Louis this summer to see our families.
4. Then, we spent the afternoon/evening at the beach with our life group and ate some delicious pizza for dinner.
5. We were leaving the beach when the rain started (I love that it waited for us to be done)  :)
6. For dessert: chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick at our favorite hot dog joint!  Double YUM!
7. And finish it up with a nice, hot shower and some snuggling and one of our tv shows in bed with the hubs!

So, I repeat, what a lovely Sunday!

But, here's for the FUN DAY part.  It's so fun, it's called Funfetti Dip!  I found a recipe on Pinterest for Skinny Funfetti Dip, and boom, I was there!  Some of you may not know, but I have an intense love affair with sprinkles.  I would put them on anything.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE sprinkles!  So, funfetti?  Yes please!

 The recipe I found actually called for Funfetti cake mix, but alas, I did not have any in my house!  So, I improvised, and here's my version.  (I also divided everything by 3 because it would have made loads of dip, and we really don't need that in the house, even if it's not incredibly fattening.)  It's pretty darn delish.  Oh, and the even more fun part, after stirring the dip a couple of times, it's now all tie-die-ey.  Like an Easter egg on drugs.  It's pretty awesome and hilarious.

{Low Calorie} Funfetti Dip
Adapted from Sweet Treats and More
(For a LOT of dip, multiply everything by 3)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 box of Gooey Butter Cake Mix (my box was 15.25 ounces, so I just weighed out 5 ounces)
• 1/2 cup light Cool Whip, thawed
• 2/3 non-fat vanilla yogurt
• As many sprinkles as your heart desires

Directions:

1. Stir the cake mix, cool whip, and yogurt together in a bowl until smooth.
2. Add sprinkles and stir in.  Then garnish more sprinkles on top.
3. Eat with graham crackers, nilla wafers, Teddy Grahams, animal crackers, etc.
4. Store in the fridge.

So, YUM!  Do you have anything along the lines of "Sunday Fun Day" to share?

You're Never Gonna Believe This! {Wednesday Wins}

I'll bet you'd never be able to guess what my Wednesday Win is for this week! 

I just ran a mile!!!  Without stopping!!!  In nine minutes!!!  Yeah, really!!!

O my gosh!  I am so pumped right now!  (For those of you who don't know, that will have been my first all running mile since my freshman year of high school... 10 years ago!)  So, yeah, that's pretty awesome!  I went out for the run tonight and thought, eh, let's see if I can do this.  And I did!  I'm so proud!  Can't you tell?!

So, if that's not a Wednesday Win, then I just don't know what is!

So anyway, you've had to wait a while for another recipe, so I'll throw this one in here too!  I just made these muffins on Sunday (or maybe Monday, I can't really remember).  And they are TO DIE FOR!!!

AND... They're healthy!  Wow!  Double whammy!  I originally found this recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff, but I've seen it several other places too.  I'm not sure who came up with the original recipe, but someone should find them and give them a medal!

The recipe said to make 24 muffins (and they would be 58 calories each), but I only got 18 from the batter.  So, the calories per muffin will depend on how big you want your muffins to be!  (With my 18 muffins, they were about 75 calories per.)

Healthy Double Chocolate Muffins

Adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff

(Makes 12-24 muffins)

 

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3 egg whites
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
1 cup sugar substitute
1/2 cup chocolate chips  (I always use milk chocolate.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with FOIL cupcake liners, or spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.  ***Do NOT use regular cupcake liners unless you like licking your muffins off of them.
• In a blender (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth.
• Divide batter into muffin tins.  How full you fill the tins will decide how big your muffins will be.  Then, distribute the chocolate chips on top of each muffin.
• Bake muffins in the 350 degree oven for about 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.
• Try not to eat them all in one sitting!!!

 So, moral of the story:  go bake these muffins right now!

Do you have any Wednesday Wins to share?!  I'd love to hear about them!

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Muffins

Woohoo!  It's Hump Day!  Halfway through the week!  Yay!

This is the first five day week I've worked in two weeks, so I'm getting tired!  Work has been pretty stressful lately, and this morning was one of those times when I just felt like I couldn't go on.  But, I got through the day, only thanks to the Lord's strength, and got energized again by cooking up some apple cinnamon scones... Yummy!  They are one of my favorite recipes, and tonight I found out that they're sooooo much easier to make now that I've got a nifty chopper!  But, I'll keep you waiting in suspense for that recipe.

Tonight, its Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Muffins!  Yum yum!  (I think I'm on a muffin kick... can you tell?!)  I found this recipe on Pinterest, and since it was already pretty healthy, I didn't have to do much adapting to make them even healthier!  So, depending on how closely you follow the recipe and how many raisins you add, these come in at about 100 calories and half a gram of fat per muffin!  Not bad, eh?!

Thanks to Christie from Taste of the Sisterhood: Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans for posting the original recipe!  Here's my version.  (Also, my muffin tin is a little bigger than normal, so my muffins always look a little small.  Have no fear, they're just shorter and fatter than most muffins.  And, these muffins were not baked in paper muffin cups and I feel like they were just a little over done/hard on the bottom, so that's why I suggest using the cups.)

Also, can you believe, that with all the muffin makin' I do, I only own ONE muffin tin?!  I know, I'm severely deprived!  ;)

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Muffins
Adapted from: Taste of the Sisterhood

*** Update (3-9-13) - I ate these this morning for breakfast with some honey drizzled on them, and they were HEAVENLY!  So good that I will probably add some honey to the recipe next time I make them.  I just thought you'd like to know!)

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup skim milk
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
raisins
more cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine the oats and milk.  Let soak for an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper baking cups.
3. Combine the oat and milk mixture with the vanilla and applesauce in a mixing bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir until just combined.  Don't over mix.
6. Stir in the raisins.  I have no idea how many I added, I just added some until I thought there was a good amount.  It's totally up to you!
7. Divide batter into the twelve muffin cups.
8. Sprinkle with more cinnamon.  Don't you just love cinnamon!
9. Bake for 20 -25 minutes, until muffins are slightly colored on top.

 Mmmmm!  I've still got some of these in the freezer from the weekend!  I've been baking so much, that right now, I just let them cool, throw them in baggies in twos, and pop them in the freezer so I know they won't go bad.  Then, you just have to heat 'em up and slather on just a tad of butter.  Yum!!!!!!!
Also, for those of you who're wondering... we're still running!  We took a little break over the weekend to recoop, but we're back at it!  Woohoo!

95 Calorie Banana Muffins!!!

Hey guys!  I am pumped!  Last night, I had a couple of bananas sitting on the counter top that were going bad, so I needed to make some banana bread.  But alas, we are on a "diet", and banana bread pretty much kills it.

So, I've been toying around with using substitutions for regular ingredients in baking and had even printed some healthy versions of recipes from Pinterest to try.  But, I hadn't found a "healthy" banana bread recipe.

What did I do then?!  I made my own!!!  Aaaahhhh!  I've never created a recipe before (I certainly did not go to school to be a chef or anything), so this was a thrilling experience for me.  I was so nervous and excited that I actually burnt my fingers trying to unwrap and eat a muffin that had literally just come out of the oven.  I just couldn't wait to taste them and see if my recipe had worked or not!  IT DID!  *Cue dancing around the kitchen like a crazy person.*

And honestly, I was so nervous because I figured they would end up tasting funny, but I really don't think I could tell the difference between this version and the full fat with much more butter and sugar!  Wow!

So, I can not keep this wonderful recipe a secret!  Here it is:

95 Calorie Banana Muffins
Makes 20 regular size muffins

Ingredients:
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/3 c. mashed, over ripe banana
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease and flour two regular sized 12-cup muffin tins.  (You can use paper baking cups, but I had a little trouble with the muffins sticking to them because they're so moist.  They're fine to use though, if you don't mind peeling the cups off carefully.)
2. Combine mashed banana, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and applesauce in a mixing bowl.  Mix well by hand.
3. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until just combined.
4. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to fill 20 muffin cups about 2/3 full.  (These worked out to a pretty regular sized muffin.)
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until just browning on top.
6. Enjoy your pretty healthy, delicious treat!

Go make some!  Now!  You will not regret it!

Have a great night!