Long time No Post

hello world! It has been a verrrry long time since any posts have been made! There is no excuse! I haven't been doing much of anything, besides getting a new puppy!! So my pet kids number is up to 4. Newest addition is a chihuahua named Zeus. Pretty sweet little guy and the cats don't hate him but they don't love him, but hey I am just glad our cat Clyde stopped puking every time the pup came near him.

Zeus! 

Our Loving Pet Kids

So about a week ago my husband and I were sitting out to lunch when we decided that we needed to get healthy and lose some poundage.(as we were eating ginormous delicious burritos) We made a plan and went shopping for the supplies we needed ; clothes, shoes and GNC stuff. When we got home we suited up and went out for our first mile and a few hours later we went out again. Since then I have been going out twice a day two miles in the morning alone and three miles in the afternoon with my husband when he gets home! We  drink tons of water during the day and also cut back a TON on our calories. Its not easy, my knees are killing me, I have band aids on my heels, and all I want is to eat my whole kitchen BUT I am determined to drop this weight. 

I have been spending a lot of time on the fitness and health section of pintrest to find recipes that wont kill our diet. I've found tons of stuff that's super helpful!! It gives me ideas for my morning protein shakes and how to substitute things in meals. My favorite things I have found this week are cauliflower rice and banana muffins!

Cauli-Rice

The cauliflower rice or what I call it Cauli-Rice, has to be one of the most amazing ideas someone has come up with. Honestly.. amazing. One serving of white rice is going to run you about 50 calories a serving size is 1/4 cup!!!!!! SERIOUSLY that's a joke.. who is going to be full after one serving.  For the same amount of calories of cauliflower you could have TWO CUPS!!!!!!!  Plus it is tons better for you. Cauli-Rice is easy to do. Chop it in to florets, throw it in a food processor, pulse about 4-5 times BAM you have cauli-rice! Just microwave it for about two minutes and its ready to eat! Your welcome for discovering this. :-D


I have been craving sweets like crazy.. but everything I have in my house is full of stuff I am not suppose to have. I searched and found a recipe that was already  low calories(pin) but I figured I could fix it up a bit and make it a little better.. and I did!! Original pin was 16 servings 130 calories each. I got it to 12 servings 107 calories each! I used a muffin pan instead of making it in a loaf. If you wanted smaller portions 16 servings would be about 80 each. 

FancyBananaMuffins

Dry: Sift together
3/4 c All-Purpose Flour
3/4 c Whole Wheat Flour

Deliciousness on a platter

1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Cinnamon

Wet: Mix together
2 Egg Whites OR 2 tbs ground flax seed+6TBS water
1 c Mashed Banana
1/4 c Applesauce, unsweetend
1/2 c Granulated Sugar
1/4 c Truvia
1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Combined Dry with Wet, Prep muffin cups with non stick spray. Put 3 TBS batter in each cup. Bake 15 mins 

I hope to post more fancy things and update our progress! 

Baked Maple Bars

I'm back! My husband had a few days off from work so I spent some time with him and neglected posting for a few days! I still tested some pins out of course.. haha. I wanted to make a dessert for him so I searched and found this pin for baked maple bars.

Baked Maple Bars

1 1/2 cup Milk

1/3 cup Crisco

The Supplies 1

4 tbs Sugar

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup lukewarm Water

2 packets Yeast

2 large Eggs beaten

5 cups Flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

 Directions

Milk Mix

1. Scaled the milk, remove from heat and melt butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar and let cool to lukewarm (about 15 minutes)
2. In mixing bowl mix yeast, remaining sugar and water and let sit for 5 minutes until foamy

Milk / Yeast

3.Add beaten eggs to foamy yeast mix.
4. Slowly add warm milk mixture to yeast mix.
5. Whisk together cinnamon and flour in separate bowl.

Step 6

6. Add flour mix gradually to milk/yeast mix until almost combined.
7.Switch to dough hook and let knead for 5-7 minutes until slightly sticky.







8. Transfer to oiled bowl and let rise for 30 minutes until doubled.

Step 8 B

Step 8 A

9.Roll out dough and cut into 12 bars. Put on cookie sheet and let rise for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat oven 425 degrees. Bake for 7-8 minutes and let cool








The Frosting
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp mapleine (maple flavor extract)
1/8 tsp salt

 Directions

1. On medium heat, bring milk butter and brown sugar to a boil for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes

 2. Mix powdered sugar, maple extract, and salt to brown sugar mix until completely combined

3. Frost donuts! 

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

 As I mentioned before, my husband and I had nearly nothing except our three cats and a couple blankets (and of course my KitchenAid stand mixer) moving up to Oregon. Luckily my grandfather lives about an hour away! So when when moved into our naked apartment he came down for a visit. He brought us a kitchen table, a couple pots/pans, a camping tent,wind up lantern, some jackets, six pairs of gloves, two sets of smoke alarms both kinds, and an apocalypse size stash of dry/canned food. 

so many cans

stash continued..

In the stash he brought down there were four boxes of instant oatmeal. We don't really eat oatmeal, so I have been trying to find a creative way to use it. I found two pins for oatmeal cookies (pin1&pin2). I bake cookies a lot and neither one of them seemed to look right so I made up my own.

Oatmeal Cookie Bars

7 oatmeal packets (any flavor)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

The Supplies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  

Step 2&3

 2.Mix melted butter, oil, and sugar until well combined

3. Add eggs and vanilla

4. Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon 

5. Fold in oatmeal 

6. Spread into baking pan and bake for 20-25 mins until starts to 
get golden brown

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Golden Brown

Pile of Cookies!

Well I think think they turned out great! The taste and consistency was awesome! You could make them into actual cookies, just cut the time down to 10-15 minutes, I made bars because I only have a brownie pan! I'm glad I found use for some of the oatmeal, now I just need to find a way to use up 42 cans of potatoes! 

Frozen Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

Today I wanted a quick, project that didn't require much effort and an easy clean up! MY first thought was dessert! Chocolaty or fruity : fruity. Heavy or light : light. Hot or cold : cold. Fruity, light and cold what I found were these Blueberry Cheesecake Popsicle Bites. When we moved to Oregon we literally sold everything out of our old house and left with what fit in my two door Pontiac Sunfire, remember we have three cat babies so they took up the majority of the backseat. So that being said we are very limited with kitchen supplies! So here goes the project! 

Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

12 oz package frozen blueberries (defrosted)

1/2 cup cream cheese (soften)

2 cups cool whip

6 tbs powdered sugar

The Supplies

Blueberry Mash

                                               

Directions

1. Mash the blueberries. Since I do not have a actual blender I used this immersion blender that I got for Christmas! I love it and I use every chance I get!

Blended

2. Blend together cream cheese, powdered sugar and berries until completely combined

3. Fold in the cool whip

4. Put into ice trays or Popsicle molds. I don't have either so I used a metal tray lined with wax paper. worked great!

5. Freeze for 30 minutes or until solid. 

6. Enjoy!

Fold

Spread

Finished!

Another success! These little guys were amazing! I'm sure these would work great with any other fruit frozen or fresh! You could alter the ingredients if you want them to be lower in calories or fat by using light cream cheese and fat free and or light cool whip. I think the next time i make these I will even try a different fruit! Good Luck!