What I Ate Wednesday #78: Larabar Review, Recipe, & Giveaway!

Lately I’ve been having some fun in the kitchen experimenting with different recipes I’ve found on Pinterest and trying to use up some random ingredients in the pantry. Well, for us it’s really the coat closet acting as a pantry but hey, when you have limited space, you make things work, right? [Right.] On top of that, I’ve been in touch with LÄRABAR and was offered the chance to sample a few bars to review and do a giveaway. How could I say no?

I chose the Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew to review and they also threw in a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip too! Do you see a trend here? Not surprisingly, they were all fantastic. One of my favorite things about LÄRABAR is you know what you’re getting. Have you seen the ingredient list for the Coconut Cream Pie bar?

Dates, Unsweetened Coconut, Almonds, Cashews, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. And so many recipes across the internet that resembled bite-sized versions of a Larabar, I knew I wanted to try my own version of them.

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Makes 18-20 bites
Adapted from Lemon Cookie Dough Bites

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough BitesIngredients
– 1/3 cup rolled oats
– 1/2 cup dried blueberries
– 1/2 cup macadamia nuts; roasted
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
– 6″ slice lemon peel
– 2 tsp water [Optional]

Directions
In a food processor, add the oats and process until broken up. Add the remainder of the ingredients and process until everything is crumbly. You may need to add up to 2 tsp of water if the dough isn’t sticking together well enough. When it all comes together, measure out bites in 1/2 tbsp. You should get 18-20.. depending on how much you eat in the process [guilty!] 😉

Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bite

Nutritional Information
Per 1/2 tbsp bite

45 Calories  /  3g Fat  /  5g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  1g Protein

WIAW Matcha Green Tea Avocado Toast Reeds Kombucha Blueberry Lemon Cookie Dough Bites Tandoori Chicken Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Breakfast
In true St. Patty’s Day spirit, I made myself a matcha green tea smoothie with banana, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk.

Lunch
And continuing on the green train, I made a nice big kale salad with roasted pork [from last week’s meal plan] and a side of avocado toast. Because I’m obsessed now.

Afternoon Snack
Crumbled 2 blueberry lemon bites over some plain greek yogurt with granola. Hit the sweet spot!

Dinner
I cheated on my meal plan. In all fairness, I was invited out for some shopping and dinner, so I finally tried the Public Market and got a TON of tandoori chicken over salad. Nathan was quite pleased to have the leftovers for lunch yesterday. And I did at least follow through for him and made the baked onion rings and roasted brussels.. both came out awesome and I was pleased to have those in my lunch yesterday!

Evening Snack
Apple and homemade chocolate pudding.

Giveaway Time!

Enter for your chance to win a box of 16 mixed LÄRABAR flavors!

Food for Thought

Which LÄRABAR flavor are you most excited to try?
Have you ever made your own bites at home?

A Baking Kinda Weekend

I really, strongly believe that the weekend should be 5 days and the week should be 2 days. Why hasn’t someone made this happen yet? Oh well.. here’s to another Marvelous Monday!

Marvelous is testing recipes! It might not have been my most successful weekend but it was fun nonetheless. I ended up with 1 success, 2 works-in-progress, and 1 total flop. The success? Mini chocolate cupcakes from Chocolate Covered Katie.

Monster Mint-Chocolate Chip Cupcakes Chocolate Covered Katie CCK

Look how cute they are with the white chocolate chips!

I did, however, make a few adjustments to the recipe so I was very pleased when they turned out! I subbed pastry flour for all-purpose, xylitol for sugar, and pumpkin for applesauce. I also left out the peppermint extract since I was just looking for a good chocolate cupcake. The only thing left is to top it with frosting!

French bread in one hour is one of my works-in-progress. I wish I had a picture of the way mine came out.. it’s so dense Nathan described it as a bagel loaf. I think he was being nice about it too! I just bought some brand spankin’ new yeast and plan on another attempt soon in hopes that old yeast was the issue. [That doesn’t sound so nice.. ha!]

Marvelous is some tasty new treats from Lindsay. I was SO psyched when my Healthy Bites came in on Friday that I almost ate all of them as soon as I opened the box! I refrained and am trying to pace myself but holy moly they’re amazing!

Healthy Bites Cotter Crunch

Healthy Bites! Muddy Buddy Mocha, Chocolate Whey Good, & Reese’s!

My favorite flavor is the Reese’s because I just can’t say no to anything chocolate and peanut butter but I would highly recommend all of them! She even gave me a vegan version of the Reese’s and a paleo version of the Chocolate Whey Good. And I will be ordering more 🙂

Marvelous is going back to our favorite Thai restaurant for the first time in months. I’m absolutely in love with the Hot Pot!

Hot Pot Pork Thai Arroy Baltimore Maryland MD

Hot pot with pork, broccoli, onion, baby corn, carrots, bean thread noodles, and light bean sauce

And almost as marvelous is having leftovers with a little coconut curry hefeweizen to boot. Side note: the beer was interesting but not awesome.. I wouldn’t get it again but I couldn’t pass it up when I saw it!

Hot Pot Thai Arroy Baltimore Maryland MD New Belgium Coconut Curry Hefeweizen

Leftover hot pot with broccoli, cauliflower, cashews, and a coconut curry hefeweizen.

Marvelous is starting my morning with another awesome Best Body Bootcamp workout and refueling with these bad boys!

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes - Dashing Dish

Peanut Butter ‘Cake’ Coconut Flour Pancakes – Dashing Dish

These pancakes may very well jump start another pancake kick! And when my parents asked how many people I made these pancakes for, I politely responded with this:

I ATE EM ALL!

I ATE EM ALL!

Happy Monday, friends!

Food for Thought

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

How are you kicking off your week?

National Cookie Day!

Have you entered my giveaway for Hail Merry Macaroons yet? You don’t want to miss it!

Today is a wonderful day; it’s National Cookie Day! I’ve been planning on testing a holiday cookie recipe and had I realized sooner, I would have had it ready for today. But since I don’t, I wanted to share a list of some of my favorite cookie recipes. And maybe a few that I’ve been eyeing but haven’t gotten around to testing yet 😉 Those are noted with a *

National Cookie Day Chocolate Chip White Macadamia Ginger Coconut Pumpkin Oatmeal

Healthy Treats

Indulgences

I think I gave you enough to work with for a little while. Now get to baking! 🙂

Food for Thought

What are some of your favorite cookie recipes? Do you make holiday cookies every year?