Five Things Friday

It’s Friday!! I’m not sure if I could be any happier that I actually made it out of this week alive [..so far].

1. The past 2 weeks have been absolutely nuts at work but it makes the weekends all that much better.
2. Speaking of weekends, tonight at sundown begins Yom Kippur which means 24 hours of fasting. I’ll be staying off of Pinterest tonight and tomorrow!
3. HOWEVER! Today is National Peanut Day. Quite possibly one of my favorite days ever [after my wedding day and National Peanut Butter Day, of course]. So I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite peanut recipes for you.
   

   Sweet

   

   Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bark

   

   Hail Merry Peanut Butter Coconut Banana Bites

   

   Healthy Banana Peanut Butter Cups

   

   Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake

   

   Peanut Butter Wonderful Powerballs

   

   Sweet Potato Dippers

   Savory

   

   Buddha’s Feast with Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

   

   Peanut Chili Baked Tofu

   

   Tilapia Stir-Fry with Chili Peanut Sauce

   Enjoy 🙂

4. Another round of Best Body Bootcamp started this week. Looking over the workouts I definitely thought they didn’t look so bad and I’d probably breeze through them. Holy cow was I wrong! All of the workouts were deceptively difficult and I left the gym drenched. It was a great feeling!
   

   Cardio and core work

5. I wandered around the food area of Marshall’s last week and found a few fun things. I’d gotten plain ginger chews for Nathan to try once upon a time and he said they were a bit spicy for his liking. When I came across a bag of peanut butter ginger chews [here I go with the peanut butter again!], I couldn’t pass them up. They have more of a peanut butter flavor with a little kick of ginger spice.. seriously addictive! And they’re individually wrapped so you can throw a few in your bag for later!
   

   Peanut Butter Ginger Chews

And on that peanutty note, I hope you have a lovely, restful weekend!

Food for Thought

Do you have a favorite food holiday?

‘Tis the Season

In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m excited to, not only, announce the winner of my Hail Merry giveaway, but also announce another giveaway!

So without further ado, the winner of the Choco and Blonde Hail Merry Macaroons is... Emily!

Emily says :
These sound sooo good! I want to try the Blonde Macaroons!

Congratulations, Emily! And thank you so much to the wonderful people over at Hail Merry for sponsoring such a tasty giveaway!

Happy Holidays Giveaway!

I know many, if not all, of you are familiar with KIND Snacks. If not, you should definitely familiarize yourself with this brand immediately.

“KIND is a brand of all natural whole nut and fruit bars made from ingredients you can see and pronounce and it’s also a movement that gives new purpose to snacking.”

I’ve been lucky enough to try almost all of the flavors of bars and I can honestly say that they are all incredible. So much flavor and it certainly doesn’t hurt that they’re natural! They have recently partnered with Arianna Huffington, Bobbi Brown, and Grace Potter for a program they’re calling “Snack & Give Back“.

They are selling limited edition KIND cubes put together by each of these women and donating a portion of the proceeds to a charity of their choosing. In the spirit of the holiday season, I have been given the opportunity to offer my lucky readers the chance to win one of these boxes! After looking at each of the boxes and researching all of the causes, I decided on Bobbi Brown’s box, Eat Pretty Powerful.

“A portion of sales of the cube will help KIND fund a new KIND Kitchen at the Broome Street Academy, a public charter high school that prepares New York City’s most vulnerable young people to graduate with Regents diplomas.”

While all of the causes are benefiting wonderful organizations, I truly believe in cooking as an outlet. To have the ability to give at-risk youth such incredible opportunities is such an amazing gift. And right in time for the holidays! I hope you not only consider entering to win a box of your own, but also consider gifting a box in support of one of these charities.

One reader will be the lucky winner of a cube containing 20 bars:

• 5 Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt
• 5 Cashew & Ginger Spice
• 5 Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan [my personal fave!]
• 5 Madagascar Vanilla Almond

How to Enter

You have up to 5 chances to enter! Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry. Entries will be accepted through Thursday, December 13th, 11:59 pm EST. A winner will be chosen on Friday, December 14th.

1. Leave a comment telling me which charity you would choose to support if you purchased a box. (Mandatory)

2. Follow @KINDSnacks and @BarrAndTable on Twitter and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

3. Like KIND Snacks and Barr & Table on Facebook and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

4. Follow Barr & Table on Pinterest and leave a separate comment telling me. (Optional)

5. Tweet “I entered to win a @justbobbibrown Eat Pretty Powerful @KINDSnacks box from @BarrAndTable! http://wp.me/p2mo7x-df #SnackWithPurpose” and leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet. (Optional)

*Winner has 48 hours to contact me and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

**Images and quotes taken from KINDsnacks.com and HailMerry.com

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 *

Healthy Treats

• Cacao Carrot Pumpkin Spice POWERCookies – PowerCakes*
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie – Chocolate Covered Katie (Ok, so maybe not a cookie, but close enough that it has to be on the list!)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter LOVE Cookies – Eating Bird Food*
• Four-Minute Coconut Macaroons – Chocolate Covered Katie
• Flourless Chocolate Chip Cookies – Chocolate Covered Katie
• Protein No-Bake Cookie – STUFTmama
• Vegan Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Eating Bird Food

Indulgences

• Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies – Divine Baking*
• Hot and Spicy Gingersnaps – Recipe Girl*
• Mini Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies – How Sweet It Is*
• The Chewy – Alton Brown
• The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies – Brown Eyed Baker
• Vegan White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies – Healthy Happy Life

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?

Foodie Friday: Hail Merry Peanut Butter Coconut Banana Bites & a Giveaway!

Yesterday, I was so excited to share with you the wonderful world of Hail Merry snacks. Today, I’m even more excited to not only share with you a delicious treat that I created using their raw, gluten-free macaroons, but also host a giveaway!

Hail Merry Peanut Butter Coconut Banana Bites

Makes 12 Bites

Ingredients
6 Choco or Blonde Hail Merry Macaroons
3 tbsp peanut butter [I use Peanut Butter & Co. Smooth Operator]
1 small banana
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips [I use Ghirardelli]

Directions
Slice each macaroon into so you have 2 coin-shaped pieces per macaroon. Slice your banana into 12 1/4″ pieces. Top each macaroon coin with 1 tsp peanut butter and then with a banana slice.

Place in freezer for 15-20 minutes until bites are set. Once set, melt chocolate chips and dip half of the bites in the chocolate. Melt peanut butter and drizzle on top of each bite.

Place in the freezer for another 15-20 minutes to set again. Let sit out for a minute or two to warm up before enjoying!

Talk about melt-in-your-mouth, these bites are decadent but light enough that you can indulge without the guilt.

Nutritional Stats
Per bite

61 Calories  /  4g Fat  /  7g Carbs  /  1g Fiber  /  3g Sugar  /  2g Protein

Hail Merry Macaroon Giveaway

The wonderful people of Hail Merry have offered to give one lucky reader a chance to win some delicious macaroons! The winnings include:

• 1 3.5 oz package of Choco Macaroons
• 1 3.5 oz package of Blonde Macaroons

They’re both amazingly delicious, but if I had to choose a favorite, I would go with the Choco!

How to Enter

You have up to 5 chances to enter! Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry. Entries will be accepted through Thursday, December 6th, 11:59 pm EST. A winner will be chosen on Friday, December 7th.

1. Leave a comment telling me which flavor you’re most excited to try. (Mandatory)

2. Follow @HailMerryLLC and @BarrAndTable on Twitter and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

3. Like Hail Merry and Barr & Table on Facebook and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

4. Follow Hail Merry and Barr & Table on Pinterest and leave a separate comment telling me. (Optional)

5. Tweet “I entered to win #glutenfree, #raw @HailMerryLLC macaroons from @BarrAndTable and you can too! http://wp.me/p2mo7x-cy” and leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet. (Optional)

*Giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. Winner has 48 hours to contact me and claim prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Hail Merry Love

If you’ve never heard of Hail Merry, you’ve been missing out.

Hail Merry is a snack food company born out of the yoga culture that celebrates raw plant-based oils.  Our truly great tasting recipes are consciously prepared to protect the integrity of the pure ingredients we source, offering an unparalleled taste experience.*

They make incredibly flavorful raw, gluten-free snacks and desserts that you need to get your hands on! And today is the perfect day to do that. As you may or may not know, Good Morning America features daily deals and today they’re offering 50% off of Hail Merry’s New Love Macaroon Tin. But the deal is only good today so get on it!

Hail Merry New Love Macaroon Tin

I can vouch for these macaroons; they’re worth it! With all natural ingredients, you can indulge without the guilt. And you can be sure they’re #plantPOWER approved!

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a fun treat featuring these macaroons as well as an even more fun surprise for my readers! 😉

*Courtesy of HailMerry.com