PB&J Pie Parfait {Recipe ReDux}

Oh, hiiiii there! Long, loooong time, no talk. I knew I’d make it back here one of these days. It’s been an interesting and exciting past month around these parts. I’ve happily started to find a groove with my schedule, had a great trip home, spent some time with my favorite little girl [.. and the rest of my family], and spent some QT with the hubs.

Playing piano with my girl.

Learning colors.

Happy to go to an Orioles game with 3 of my favorite people!

During Nathan and my 8 mile hike on Nimitz Trail.

One of my favorite things to do with Nathan is take a walk to the farmers’ market every Saturday. The fruit we’ve been getting lately has been out of this world and I knew I had to put some of it to good use for this month’s Recipe ReDux.

Tucked in a crust, nothing says love from the oven like pie. Whether it’s a twist on the all-American apple pie or a traditional recipe from your home country, give a healthy makeover to your favorite savory or sweet pie recipe.

This dessert came together in just a matter of minutes and is the perfect single-serving size. And the best part? Aside from the peanut butter, of course, is the secret ingredient, chia seeds. They serve as a thickener for the filling and are also a great source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids, protein, nutrients that help support bone health, such as calcium and magnesium. Happy dessert-ing!

Single Serving PB&J Pie Parfait

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 5 mini or 1 1/2 regular Reese’s Oreos
• 3/4 tsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cashew milk
• 1 tbsp chia seed
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 strawberries; sliced

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the cashew milk, chia seed, and peanut butter. Set aside in a small bowl for 1-2 hours and allow to thicken.
2. After the peanut butter mix has thickened, place the Oreos and coconut oil in a food processor and blend until they come together.
3. Press 1/3 of the mix into a small glass and top with 1/2 of the peanut butter mixture and 1/2 of the strawberry slices.
4. Sprinkle another 1/3 of the Oreo mix on top with the other 1/2 of the peanut butter mixture and the other sliced strawberry.
5. Sprinkle the remaining Oreo mix on top and dig in!

Nutritional Information
270 Calories / 18g Fat / 21g Carbs / 7g Fiber / 7g Sugar / 9g Protein

Food for Thought

What is your favorite pie?

Roasted Banana Berry Chocolate Cups

With Valentine’s Day being on a Thursday, I knew I wanted to be able to whip up a quick and easy dessert. [Nathan was in charge of dinner!] Even though we had a great idea to make homemade dim sum together, we knew that it would have to wait for a weekend. When I saw Tone It Up’s post of Valentine’s Day desserts, I knew I had something to play with.

Makes 10 cups
Adapted from Tone It Up

Ingredients
– 10 squares from 6.8 oz dark chocolate bar
– 1 medium banana
– 3/4 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt
– 1 cup berries; sliced if using strawberries
– 1/4 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut; toasted
– Ground cinnamon [optional, for garnish]

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Microwave the chocolate chunks in 30 second increments until smooth. Spray 10 mini cupcake liners lightly with non-stick spray and paint the melted chocolate on each of the liners to about 1/4″ thickness. Place the cups in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until hard.

While the cups are in the freezer, place the banana on a cookie sheet and into the oven, still in its skin. Roast for 15-20 minutes until very brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. After the banana has cooled, mash it up and mix it into the greek yogurt.

Remove the chocolate cups from the freezer and peel out of the liners. Spoon some roasted banana yogurt into each cup, top with a few berries, some toasted coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Serve immediately.. they won’t last long! 😉

Nutritional Information
Per cup

97 Calories  /  5g Fat  /  13g Carbs  /  2g Fiber  /  9g Sugar  /  3g Protein

Food for Thought

Did you treat yourself to a Valentine’s Day dessert? Did you make something special or order out?

Strawberry Yogurt Bites

One thing I love about summer is always having fruit in the house. One thing I don’t love is letting that fruit go bad, so I’m always looking for fun ways to mix it up! And the easier the idea, the better.

Yogurt dipped strawberries are delicious, but they always get so messy! So why not stuff the strawberries and jazz it up a bit while I’m at it?

Serves 2 (or just 1.. I won’t tell!)

Ingredients
8 – 12 strawberries, depending on size
1/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt
1/2 banana
1 – 2 tbsp sliced almonds
Cinnamon
Ice cube tray or another serving piece that will allow the strawberries to sit straight up

Directions
In a bowl, mash the 1/2 banana until pureed. Add the 1/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt and mix until well combined.

Using a paring knife, cut a little bowl into the top of each strawberry. Fill each strawberry with some of the banana / yogurt mixture and set into your serving piece to sit up straight. (I used an ice cube tray!) Once all of the strawberries are filled, sprinkle the tops with the sliced almonds and a little cinnamon.

Devour!

..I mean, enjoy!

This snack is perfect for the morning or afternoon. It’s a little sweet and also has some protein from the yogurt and almonds. Next time I might toss some dark chocolate chips into the mix. Because who can say no to a little chocolate?!

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite summertime snack?

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes – Take 2!

A couple weeks ago I posted a recipe for Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes. They’re absolutely delicious, but having oats in them makes them not so Tone It Up-approved, so I decided to play with the Tone It Up protein pancake recipe and figure out a way to make a new zucchini bread protein pancake that is equally as delicious. It took a few tries, but I found the winning combination!

Zucchini Bread Protein Pancakes.. Tone It Up Style!

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1/2 banana
1 packet Perfect Fit Protein or 3 tbsp protein powder
1 tbsp fat free cottage cheese
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 – 1 tbsp cinnamon; I like a lot of cinnamon!
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup zucchini, finely shredded

I find the psyllium husk and baking soda are key for having a nice, flippable pancake!

Directions
Finely shred your zucchini and squeeze all of the excess moisture out, as you would do with frozen spinach. This is very important because excess moisture will make your pancake fall apart!

Add all ingredients except shredded zucchini into a food processor and process until well combined. Toss in your zucchini and pulse a few times until it is just incorporated into the rest of the batter. You want to keep some of the texture of the zucchini!

Let the batter sit in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. This allows the batter to setup and thicken a bit so you’re left with an easier batter for flipping.

After refrigerating, preheat a small pan over medium-low heat and coat with non-stick spray. Pour your batter into the pan and be very patient! You’ll have a wait a few minutes while the first side sets and cooks part of the way through so you don’t have a messy flip. This is usually the time that I take to prep my toppings.

Ready to flip! Very carefully, inch your spatula under the pancake and slowly flip. It’s ok if some of the batter moves around because you’ll just cover it all up with the pancake after it’s flipped.

Cook about 2-3 more minutes on the second side and serve!

I’ve been loving a little drizzle of maple syrup, a couple sliced strawberries, blueberries, unsweetened shredded coconut, and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. So delicious!

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite kind of pancake you’ve ever made?

What I Ate Wednesday #5 – My Favorite Sensible Dessert

Another week, another What I Ate Wednesday post! But this one has a recipe.. check it out!

Recently my eats have been looking rather similar on the day-to-day front. And I’m perfectly ok with that! Breakfast is looking something like this..

A Tone It Up pineapple protein pancake (and dare I say, I’ve totally mastered the flip!), topped with a drizzle of maple syrup, a couple diced up strawberries, some blueberries, some unsweetened shredded coconut, and a little extra sprinkling of cinnamon. Along side of that, I have the Bombshell Spell, which is a deliciously wonderful way of getting a little shot of apple cider vinegar into your life. These recipes come directly from the Tone It Up Beach Babe plan that you get when you purchase their membership plan, and are a part of the 5 Day Slim Down that I did last week. Since mastering the pancake, I’ve been craving it like no other. I could seriously eat it everyday.. sometimes twice a day!

Snack #1 is 1/2 grapefruit sprinkled with Stevia or Truvia and some coffee with almond milk.

For lunch, I’m loving some teriyaki marinated tofu with homemade pineapple salsa all wrapped in collard greens. It’s a relatively new-to-me idea to use the collard greens as wraps, but it’s wonderful!

My absolute favorite afternoon snack is my new Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake, and the past few times I’ve made it, I put 1 cup of spinach in. You don’t even taste it and you get that little bit of extra veggie.

For dinner, I mixed it up a bit. This delicious bulgar wheat salad with asian slaw and chicken really hit the spot! I found a recipe awhile back for Asian Quinoa Salad, but when I found myself at the store looking for quinoa that wasn’t there, I grabbed the bulgar wheat and went to town! Other than being a wheat product as compared to a grain, bulgar wheat has many of the same nutritional aspects as quinoa. It’s high in protein, low in calories, and low in fat as well! It also has a little bite to it that I really enjoy. Please excuse the not-so-lovely picture..

And now onto my favorite sensible dessert. I’ve pretty much made it every night for the past couple weeks.

Apple Pie Parfait

1 serving

Ingredients
1 apple – I prefer fuji
1/4 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt
Cinnamon
Walden’s Sugar-Free, Calorie-Free Chocolate Syrup

Directions
Chop up apple into bite size pieces and toss with a little cinnamon. Put the apple in a glass and top with half of the yogurt, a little sprinkle of cinnamon, and a drizzle of the chocolate syrup. Repeat for the other half of the apple and yogurt, and devour!

If you really want to get fancy, throw some dark chocolate chips in there or even a little unsweetened shredded coconut.

I really love this as an after workout dessert because the yogurt gives me a little bit of protein, but it’s not too heavy before bed.

Speak Up!

What’s your favorite sensible dessert?