Homemade Larabar!
This is one I’ve made a few times before and I think I almost have it down.
This time I smashed up the nuts and cut up the fruit before blending. It helped a ton and wasn’t as loud in the food processor.
Blended Goodness
The one thing I can’t seem to get is how to keep them from crumbling. It doesn’t bother me too much, I’m just curious. Mine is more like a super sticky granola. A delicious granola bar.
Second recipe of the year … MINESTRONE! I love minestrone. Especially Olive Garden’s minestrone. Every time I have declared that I will try and make minestrone, I end up making a type of “dump” soup instead. That’s when I just dump whatever veggies I have on hand into a pot and add broth. Quick, easy, hearty.
Not minestrone.
So I finally got the ingredients and went for it. I still left out certain things like olive oil and cheese. I also changed out the carrots for celery. I hate cutting carrots. They fly everywhere.
I must get better at actually measuring out my ingredients. I made like a lifetime supply of soup. Good thing my husband is usually super hungry when he gets off work.
Next time I make this, I want to make more broth, more of the tomato and chicken broth puree. It’s amazing.
I love Pinterest. I pin almost daily about foods I want to make, inspirational illustration and graphic design, things I love, future house ideas, and way too many more.
Problem is, I’ll never get to try all these amazing how to’s and ideas if I just keep pinning them. So I’m going to be proactive with my Pinterest. Instead of only drooling over amazing illustrations I come across, I’ve started sketching more. When I’m feeling stuck, I’ll browse through my inspirational pins and find one that is perfect for my mood and use it to jump start the sketch of the day. You can see some of my latest doodles on my instagram or twitter.
I’m also trying to bake, cook, and crockpot my way through the food pins that have been piling up.
Today I started out with a quick Spring Fruit Pudding.
I emptied a cheesecake flavored instant pudding packet into a mixing bowl with a can of pineapple and the juices. I stirred these two together until they were well blended. The mixture started to get thicker, almost like a pudding. Imagine that!
Next, I just added sliced bananas and strawberries and mixed it all up again.
As a final touch, I dashed some cinnamon on top and did a final stir. It has a great texture and the pudding just adds a nice flavor to the fruit. Surprisingly, it isn’t the hero to this dessert. The fruits themselves shine, and the pudding plays a nice supporting roll.
Noms
Since I was feeling peppy, I decided to knock out two food ideas today. The second one I crossed off my list was home made granola. You can find the original recipe here. Me being me, I changed the recipe a bit.
I combined 1.25 cups old fashioned rolled oats, a big dash of cinnamon, 4 tablespoons of shredded coconut, and a handful of craisins in one bowl. In a second bowl, I mixed 1/4 cup sugar free syrup and a half cup of cinnamon apple sauce. These two bowls got together, mixed things up, and became the start of some sweet granola.
I spread the mixture out in a pan that had been sprayed with Canola Oil and baked it for 15 minutes at 325. When that was done, I alternated mixing up the granola, breaking up the chunks, and cooking for 5-8 minutes until it was no longer soft and became more like real granola.
It’s going to be hard not to just eat the whole things in one sitting. Will probably at least double the recipe next time I make it.
Since Nick proposed in September a few years ago, I’ve had a lifestyle change when it comes to what I eat. At first, I wanted to eat right and exercise for the wedding. It was a great motivator, to be able to fit into the wedding dress. Before the wedding, I dropped 15 pounds. Then, I got married, went on a honeymoon, and ignored the idea of eating right. I mean, how often will I ever get to visit Hawaii (our honeymoon location) and enjoy such delicious foods?
The next stage of my personal fitness was inspired by how well I felt when eating well and exercising and the excitement of pants fitting right. So until about last October, I ate right for the sake of eating right. Then, I decided I wanted to do another push. I wanted this summer to be the first summer I wouldn’t try to hide when wearing summer clothes. I wanted to finally be able to look at pictures when I’m tagged in them and be happy about how I look. Since then, I have done one and a half rounds of P90X, dropped another five pounds, and now have muscles I’ve never known existed.
I was doing really well eating right and being good to my body and things were paying off. My skin has been clearer (I have an angry history with acne), sleeping was more restful, and I felt good about how I looked. Then, the splurging started to occur more often, the exercising was less intense, and this last week (and especially the weekend) I just ate what I wanted, as much as I wanted, and fell off that health kick. Sure it was fun, and tasty, but it was not helpful at all towards my goal. I feel that I needed this kick in the pants. I’d been running out of motivation. But after a few days of eating what I wanted and have been craving, I don’t feel as great as when I eat right. I’m relearning that it doesn’t pay off for me. I’m ready to jump back into the game! I’m ready to eat right, exercise hard, and get ready for summer!
For the next month there will be no more splurging (as much as humanly possible): I will aspire to eat super healthy, to give my body what it needs, try new tasty recipes to avoid boredom, and to exercise better and more intensely. Looking back on my health habits the past year, I feel better, do better, and am just an overall most positive version of myself when I eat right.
Tonight, my husband and I will do a run in our neighborhood. I love and hate running. I hate it because I am not a runner. I don’t have the talent or endurance one needs to outrun a zombie hoard or win a marathon. It hurts everywhere and all I can do is concentrate on breathing. I love it because I can feel it working. I can feel myself getting stronger. I get to be away from any television or computer screen and I get to enjoy the beautiful neighborhood we are living in. Also, to distract myself from what I’m doing, Nick just tells stories and I love that he is a talker. I’ve also noticed that my ability to run has improved by like 300%. I use to be that person who would run for 30 seconds and be done.
So basically, I’m rededicating myself to eating right and being fit. Yes there will be splurge days in the future. But for the next month, the goal is to avoid those. Just hit the reset button and get a strong foundation with it.
Also, I’m glad I’ve made this decision now, because my pants still fit. That means I didn’t wait until it was too late. Lol
And hello!
Made breakfast cookies the other night.
Just a combo of 1.5 cups of oats, a cup of applesauce, bananas, craisins, butterscotch chips and cinnamon. Baked to auromatic yummies and done!
Nick and I have been running regularly now. Some nights we even double our distance, and our pace is getting faster as well. I’m finally getting into better shape so I don’t have to take as many breaks. Which is nice. I like to think if the zombie apocalypse happened, I’d have a better chance of running to safety now.
Also, I love this door.
Always makes me think of hobbit doors in Bag End.
Random, but whatever.
Also, short and sweet!
Gallivanting Goodriches 