Peppermint Cocoa Energy Bars (adapted from Oh She Glows)

Hey all,

Yes, Ron and I are STILL on the east coast and eagerly awaiting our return to the Best Coast. (Are we there yet? No offense, New Englanders.) We also just finished our summer jobs and have been celebrating by going on a major tv and movie binge: Vampire Diaries! Bones! The Lucky One! In between dissertation work and jobs, we haven’t had much time to break in our new tv and sofa that we bought to outfit our new apartment. As you can see, we now have been firmly planted on our couch for days, and it’s been….glorious. Of course, the lack of exercise isn’t so glorious, and I’ve been trying to eat a little bit healthier after all this sitting (and after a major food fest at a great Italian restaurant for my friend’s birthday!).

This morning I saw that the lovely vegan blogger Angela from Oh She Glows recently posted a No-bake Peppermint Patty Energy Bar made with dates. Considering I had an entire bag of dates to eat before we leave, I became excited! Chocolate mint bars made from healthy, light ingredients? Of course I’m intrigued! Could they be good? Well, in the immortal words of Ron (who snuck a bar when I wasn’t looking), “Mmmmm, these taste like a chewier Mint Chocolate Clif bar!”

I adapted Angela’s Bars by adding a ton more cocoa, peppermint, and almond milk (double the amounts!), using less nuts with a combination of cashew and almond butter instead of walnuts and almonds, implementing plastic wrap instead of parchment paper, and blending vanilla protein powder with fiber powder instead of unflavored protein powder. Considering this recipe has no added sugar, these bars are delicious and guilt-free, friends! They are chewy, chocolatey, and minty–perfect for an after-dinner treat or post workout snack. I love the chocolate chips, too. They make these bars very rich and decadent. To store, wrap each bar with a little plastic wrap, and place all bars into a zip-lock bag into the freezer. (That way, they’re even more cool and minty fresh!) Thank you, Angela, for another delicious treat!

Skinny Banana Crisp with Coconut Cream

Hey all,

Ron and I are going back to California to visit our families and take a break from our busy schedules for an entire month! It’s going to be great food, fun times, and lots of hugs. Of course, that means here in our New England apartment we are trying to eat EVERYTHING in the kitchen, including fruit: clementines, apples, and bananas, to be exact. I saw that my bananas were actually going brown, and I didn’t want to make Banana Bread or Banana “Soft Serve” (you know, frozen bananas that are processed til smooth and look like melted ice cream?). Hmmmm. How about I make a healthy Banana Crisp that includes dried fruit and all the other fruit we have lying around the kitchen? Could a banana crisp be as delicious as an apple crisp? I think the half-empty glass baking pan says it all.

I made this eclectic crisp with some of my favorite ingredients. I used cinnamon, honey, oats, oat flour, coconut oil, stevia, and light butter for the skinny crisp topping……(Mmmmm). For the fruit on the bottom, I used mostly bananas with one small cut up apple, 2 clementines, and dried cranberries. I served the crisp sprinkled with flaked coconut and finished with a dollop of (melted) coconut cream. (Coconut cream is the cream of coconut milk whipped with a little white sugar.) So delicious! Ron and I loved this crisp! And the Coconut cream tastes so decadent. I might like this better than whipped cream made with cow’s milk. I am definitely going to try Whipped Coconut Cream at my next dinner party! Cheers!

Banana Crisp

Fruit on the bottom ingredients:

2 bananas, sliced

1 large apple, washed and chopped

2 clementines, peeled and sectioned

1/8 cup dried cranberries

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp honey

optional: 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice

the Topping:

1/4 cup almond flour

1/3 oat flour

1/2 cup oats

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup stevia and brown sugar (mixed)

3 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp light butter

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8×8 cooking dish with coconut oil or Pam. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine fruit, cinnamon, and honey. Spoon into baking pan.

In a second medium bowl, cream the oat flour, oats, almond flour, stevia, salt, and cinnamon with the butter and coconut oil. Sprinkle the oat crumble over the fruit in the baking pan, and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. While the crisp bakes, make your  coconut cream. I suggest the coconut cream recipe from the lovely vegan blogger Oh She Glows. Let cool and serve with Coconut Cream! Yum!

DIY Strawberry-Dark Chocolate Syrup (lots of fruit!)

Hey all,

Remember how I said I’m lowering my sugar intake? Well, I decided to start by making over my recent Homemade Dark Chocolate Syrup. MMMMM, remember how rich and dark it is?

I love this stuff, but I could definitely make it a little healthier–how about blending the syrup with equal parts strawberries to make a Dark Chocolate-Strawberry Syrup?

Image from Alloveralbany.com

I blended the strawberries with the syrup one day just to see how it would taste. The results? Wonderful! I may like this syrup better than the Dark Chocolate Syrup! (It’s actually dinner guest approved, too–I poured some of the syrup on top of a brownie and my guest immediately asked where I got the delicious cocoa berry syrup!) The strawberries cut through the dark chocolate and make it an even sweeter berry chocolate sauce. They also thin the syrup a bit, which makes it more squeezeable and spreadable. In fact, I bought a squeeze bottle just for this syrup! I knew this would be a staple in my house. (A low sugar chocolate syrup that’s half fruit? Yes, please!)

Homemade Dark Chocolate-Strawberry Syrup

1 cup of my Dark Chocolate Syrup

1 tsp cocoa powder

3/4 cup frozen strawberries

Directions:

Blend together. That’s it! Eat with ice cream, greek yogurt, and more!

Frozen Cherries ‘n’ Yogurt Treats

Hey Burlesquers,

So, I’ve been working out, y’all. And, as I’ve mentioned before, when I work out, I WORK OUT. This isn’t a tea party. By the end of 40 minutes, my face is beet red and I’m feeling tired. Right now I’ve just been hopping on the treadmill and staying on there for a solid 45 minutes. Because my body is getting used to working out again, I’m actually going every other day to the gym (to avoid injuries.) My three workouts, thus far, have been 45 minutes intervals of fast walking on a tall incline and running (faster than a slow jog) with an average of 3.75 miles per workout (wooooooo!).  I ran 4 miles the first day, when I wasn’t feeling tired from consecutive workouts yet! (Ugh, yesterday it was like pulling teeth just to make it to 3.5 miles…. my body was tired! In my head, I kept pumping myself up and thinking, “You still got it! You go, girl!”)

Anyway, with all of this working out, I’ve been hungry and needing quick post-workout snacks. Today, while on Pinterest, I spotted a plain yogurt-covered blueberries recipe that involved dipping blueberries (on toothpicks) into plain yogurt. I don’t have blueberries or toothpicks, but I have cherries and greek yogurt. Time for a fun treat!

I added almond extract and cinnamon to my plain greek yogurt. I then dipped my cherries into the flavored-yogurt mixture and set the covered fruit down one inch apart on a plate.

I froze these little beauties, and…….. woo! They are delightful!

I really like these as a snack. I wasn’t sure how flavorful the yogurt would taste after being frozen, but the little cinnamon and extract go a long way! Yum! (I may or may not have been snacking away on these while I shot the pictures….) Of course, cherries are a little more cumbersome than blueberries because of the darn pit, but who doesn’t love the rich flavor of cherries and almonds? And the stem acts as a built-in toothpick. You could even do one more layer to these frozen beauties by dipping them into diced nuts or chocolate, mmmmm! Enjoy!

Frozen Cherries ‘n’ Yogurt Treats

Ingredients:

1 cup of clean, rinsed cherries (with stems)

1 cup of plain greek yogurt (or a non-cow’s milk yogurt)

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Mix together yogurt, extract, and cinnamon. Dip cherries into yogurt, making sure you cover the entire piece of fruit. Place one inch apart on a plate and put in your freezer for one hour. Take out of freezer and let defrost for 3 minutes. Then enjoy!

DIY Home: Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cubes

Want pretty and pink ice cubes for those hot summer nights?

Star-shaped ice cubes. Fun, right?

Make Strawberry Lemonade Ice Cubes for summer! Blend fresh or frozen strawberries with equal parts lemonade (I used light lemonade), pour in an ice cube tray, and freeze overnight. This concoction makes fun and fruity ice cubes, or even Strawberry Lemonade Pops, that are perfect for a hot summer day or festive party. I like to put mine in sparkling water to give my drink more pizzazz! I also tend use over-ripe fruit and/or fruit that has too much freezer burn (for regular consumption). And, fyi, I bought this ice tray at Walmart for $1!

BB’s Peppy Purple Smoothie

Happy Tuesday, Burlesquers!!

Ron and I are exhausted, but happy. We’ve moved in all my stuff to our new apartment–no movers needed! We did it ourselves! (We, in fact, moved all my books, clothes, kitchen stuff, and bed and mattress down two flights of stairs and up another flight of stairs to our new place. Let’s just say we’re both taking aspirin right now for sore muscles!!) We thought about hiring movers, but we already don’t get enough exercise as academic researchers. And movers are expensive! Why not workout and save money in the process?

As for my wellness, I still feel excited about losing weight and eating well, but admittedly yesterday we ate Chinese food for dinner. And I feel heavy! Unless you eat steamed vegetables and rice, it’s hard NOT to feel a little icky after Chinese Food. Some of the dishes seem like just meat and oil (with no veggies). Ron and I did have one dish we loved though–it was a peanut satay-type dish that offered lots of fresh mixed vegetables in a coconut peanut sauce. The dish was high in fat, but nutritious. We took some of this satay dish home and decided to try and make a copycat recipe: Asian Satay Roasted Pork! We found a recipe online and tried it….

Good, but not post-worthy. Booo!

Looks so scrumptious, right? We liked the roast, but unfortunately, there was something OFF about the final product. Too much lemon juice? Or too much Rice Vinegar? I am not posting this dish, unfortunately, because I wasn’t sure how to fix it!

That’s ok, though—I instead decided to post my new favorite healthy vegan smoothie recipe! And you’re never going to guess one of the ingredients. You know how I’ve been on a coleslaw and broccoli slaw kick? And I’m trying to eat more vegetables? Well, why not change my usual oatmeal and fruit smoothie breakfast and add some greens– specifically broccoli slaw!

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That’s broccoli slaw with fruit in a blender! This smoothie is a mix of cheap (and in season!) bright summer fruits (blueberry and cantaloupe), broccoli slaw, a smidge of protein or fiber powder (optional), and almond milk. I love everything about this smoothie. I threw together unusual ingredients I had on hand one summer morning–just to experiment– and it came out beautifully! This smoothie is also low in calories, because its base (unsweetened almond milk) is only 40 calories a cup! And you can’t taste the broccoli/carrots despite it being a third of the produce–the blue berries and sweet melon dominate the flavors of this peppy purple smoothie.

I say “peppy” because numerous studies have shown that blueberries’ powerful antioxidants improve memory and learning, while broccoli and cantaloupe contain high levels of immune system-loving and energy-boosting Vitamin C. Because this is such an easy breakfast, why not give it a shot? I even prepped this smoothie ahead of time with my Almond Overnight Oats (oats greek yogurt, almond milk, water, cinnamon, and almond butter). Rather than use a ton of milk in my overnight oats, I use greek yogurt mixed with water, almond milk, and a bit of nut butter as my base. This is a much less caloric and higher protein option!

My overnight oats and bagged smoothie ready to toss into my blender! I want to be bright eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow.

Hope you all love it! Back to work for me!

DIY home: Citrus-infused Sugar

If life gives you lemons, you make lemon-infused sugar, right?

Because I’m on a citrus kick (and this California girl can’t wait for spring), I decided I wanted to include yet another DIY tip to use up the remaining citrus fruit and zest from your Grapefruit-Orange Scrub and Morning Glory Toner. (I swear this is the last one!) How about you take the peels from your grapefruit, orange, and lemon, and make something that looks pretty on your shelf and tastes just as sweet? Something like this…

DIY Beauty: Grapefruit-Orange Sugar Scrub

Rise and shine, all you post- St. Patrick’s Day celebrators!

Feeling a little blue (after one too many Green beers)? Here’s a scrub that will leave you feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed: the Grapefruit-Orange Scrub! Citrus is a nice dose of Vitamin C for your skin, honey is an anti-inflammatory, sugar will leave your skin soft and smooth, and sweet orange will balance the zesty scent of the tart grapefruit. Plus, all these ingredients are relatively inexpensive (and sitting in your pantry). This is a great scrub for in the shower, or you can leave it by the kitchen sink whenever your hands need a little TLC. You can also be a good neighbor and give this as an inexpensive gift!  Simply put this in a jar,  and tie it with a bow or twine. You could even make a printable for the jars and stick it on for decoration. How sweet!

Grapefruit-Orange Sugar Scrub 

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup Almond Oil (or grapeseed oil)

1 tbsp honey

1 Grapefruit

1 Orange

1 empty mason jar with lid

Directions:

Mix together the sugar, oil, and honey. Juice the grapefruit and orange, making a total of 1/2 cup of juice  (1/4 cup juice of each fruit). This should be about one quarter to one half piece of each fruit. Add the juice to the mixture, and stir well until a thick paste forms. Hurray, you now have a zesty citrus scrub! Scoop out with your hands, a small spoon, or even a slice of citrus (even more Vitamin C.) And eat the remaining fruit–it’s good for you!