Link Love #18: My Top 5

Happy New Years Eve!! Wow, I can’t believe the year is over.. it seems like it just began. It’s time to wrap this baby up and look forward to creating new goals [and achieving them!], new experiences, and new memories. I usually use my link love posts to share some of my favorite posts from the blogosphere, but in the spirit of wrapping up this year, I thought I’d share my top 5 most popular posts and my top 5 favorites from this past year.

Most Popular

5. What I Ate Wednesday #4 – 5 Day Slim Down Edition!

That’s a tasty pineapple protein pancake!

I most certainly have some Tone It Up ladies to thank for this being up there in numbers! People seriously want to know about that slim down. It’s no joke.. you need to be really dedicated and if you are, it really works!

4. Spaghetti Squash Kugel

Definitely making this again soon!

Between Passover and all of the Paleo and low carb diets, it’s no wonder this recipe was a hit! And have you ever had kugel? YUM! Give me my kitchen!

3. Recipe Remix: Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes

Ooh baby! I almost forgot about these.

I love my sweet breakfasts and anyway I can sneak a little veggie in there makes it that much more perfect.

2. Foodie Friday: Peanut Butter Wonderful Powerballs

Everything is better with peanut butter!

My first attempt at protein bites and they were a delicious success! I definitely recommend this recipe.

1. Minty Irish Powerballs

The perfect mix of chocolatey, nutty, and minty!

How do you make a protein bite better? Use your homemade nut butter 😉

My Top 5 Recipe Posts

Eggy Quinoa Stuffed Squash
Coconut Flour Pancake Variations
Homemade Cashew Butter
Buddha’s Feast
Chipotle Lime Sweet Potato Tofu Burgers

My Top 5 Life Posts

Hitched
Dealing With Doubt
I’m grateful for…
The “S” Word
Baltimore Bucket List and Big News!

My Top 5 What I Ate Wednesday Posts

#44: Wine in Italy
Quick Honeymoon Update
#45: The Wedding Food
#59: Ten Years Gone
#64: The First Weekend

Food for Thought

Do you have an all-time favorite post from this past year?
Any big plans for NYE?

What I Ate Wednesday #53: A Couple New Faves

Happy Wednesday, friends! Nathan sent me this video yesterday and I had to share it. This guy is incredibly inspirational and it’s so nice to see someone with such a positive attitude. It’s definitely worth the watch.. I hope you enjoy!

Now onto the food..

I have to admit, my eats have not been the most exciting lately. I’ve been loving big salads and roasted veggies and there are really only so many times I can show the same old stuff. So today I wanted to share another new twist on my protein oats and a couple other favorites that I’ve enjoyed recently.

Zucchini Bread Protein TVP Oats

I decided to explore a few breakfast options [only a little] and tried Zoats. I really enjoyed them but wanted to give them my own little twist and I’ve been devouring ever since! And obviously zucchini is not in short supply right now, so this is the perfect recipe to use some up!

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 1/2 cup almond milk
– 1/2 banana; mashed
– 4 egg whites
– 1 small zucchini; shredded and squeezed dry
– 1/8 cup rolled oats
– 1/8 cup TVP* [If you don’t have TVP, just substitute another 1/8 cup of oats]
– Cinnamon
– Nutmeg
– Your fave nut and/or seed butters [Optional.. but why wouldn’t you?!]
– Your fave granola [Optional.. see note above]

Directions
In a small pot, bring almond milk to a boil with mashed banana and a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Turn the heat down to medium high, add in your egg whites and mix continuously so the egg whites don’t poach. After the egg whites are partially cooked, add in the zucchini [make sure you squeezed as much of the moisture out as possible!] and mix to combine.

Let the zucchini and egg mixture cook for a few minutes, then add in the oats and TVP. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until the oats reach your desired consistency. Once cooked, top with 1 tbsp nut or seed butter, a sprinkling of cinnamon, and your favorite granola for crunch!

*You can purchase TVP from iHerb.com. Use discount code ZAF482 at checkout for up to $10 off your purchase!

Nutritional Information

Per serving, without optional toppings

235 Calories  /  2g Fat  /  32g Carbs  /  7g Fiber  /  12g Sugar  /  24g Protein

Pretty close to the original protein TVP oats, but with a little spin 🙂 This is also a perfect #PowerbowlChallenge breakfast. If you’re not participating, get with the program!

Snacks

I’m sure you’ve heard Chobani’s recent news and after having to toss a few of my beloved flips*, I’ve decided to take a little break and branch out to other brands of Greek yogurt. I’ve discovered some new flavors from Oikos that are off the chains! Yep. I went there. And I highly recommend you check them out.

I love that the lids say “with room for toppings” 😉

*Chobani’s customer service is incredible. If you’ve had any issues with your yogurt, be sure to contact them and they will send you coupons for free cups!

Salad Topper

I finally found a store in my area that carries miso and was super psyched to start cooking with it. I’m in love with Kathy’s miso dressing and have made miso-dipped tofu multiple times!

The tofu is perfect to throw on top of salads or into a wrap. I can’t wait to try it with tempeh and other proteins!

Food for Thought

What is your favorite flavor of yogurt?

Have you ever cooked with miso? Are you a fan?

Never Forget. 9/11/01

A Marvelous Weekend

Don’t forget to enter my Chobani giveaway!

I’m definitely sad to see my 4-day weekend go, but it ended on the right note. This past weekend was just what I needed!

After running a few errands on Saturday, we decided to hit up the movie theater to see This Is The End but not before a little lunch. Nathan has been raving about porchetta since we went to Italy so I did a little googling and found Isabella’s in Little Italy. Everything I read about this place from the amazing porchetta sandwich, to the tiny area to eat [all of 4 tables], to the super friendly service was on point. And while the porchetta sandwich wasn’t the same as Italy, Nathan was still quite pleased. I, of course, went for the Greek Salad with grilled chicken and it was awesome! The homemade feta was my favorite part.

Greek salad with grilled chicken and homemade feta

Off to the movies! One of my favorite things about our theater downtown is that they have a full bar. It comes in handy when you go to see a movie like This Is The End.. not recommended. But at least it got us out of the house and out of the sun on a scorcher of a day! And I had a super tasty cocktail. Check out that top-notch pic! 😉

St. Germain Elderflower Liquer, blueberries, strawberries, white cranberry juice, and soda water

After a quick run to Whole Foods for sparkling water and figs [the essentials], we vegged at home and watched The Amazing Spiderman on demand. Another winner.. though, it was definitely better than the movie that we paid for! We got lazy and I whipped up a little egg white scramble for dinner which turned out to be pretty awesome! Awesome enough that I repeated it yesterday for lunch.

Egg whites, broccoli, corn, kale, cheddar cheese, avocado, tomatillo salsa, and a little sriracha

Sunday ended up being a bit of later start for us.. I got up and did one of my favorite Tone It Up cardio routines, Bikini Cardio. We were going to head to the farmers’ market, but I needed some food in my belly so I chowed down on my go-to breakfast—oats with egg whites & TVP, topped with Sunbutter, coconut peanut spread, and my homemade pumpkin seed butter.

By the time we got ourselves together to head out, it was 10:30. On our walk over, we decided it was hot, late [for the market], and there would be tons of people there, so we detoured over to Teavolve. Nathan grabbed a bite to eat and I got a delicious matcha green tea smoothie. I had only tried it once before, but it was just as marvelous as I remembered. Matcha powder is so pricey though, I just can’t bring myself to bite the bullet and get some to have at home.

We found ourselves around the corner from Whole Foods again, so we ran in to pick up a few things for some serious food prep when we got home, including these gorgeous beets!

How cool are these beets?!

We got down to business and Nathan was cooking up a storm!

He’s really been jonesing for some good Italian food like we had on the honeymoon, so he made a Tuscan-style ragu. It’s delicious and perfect to serve over pasta, quinoa, salad.. anything really! He also grilled up a flank steak which is going to be great  for sandwiches and salads all week. I roasted my beets which, unfortunately, were not as gorgeous as they were raw. I also made some easy kimchi that I found from Brittany [can’t wait to taste it later this week!], Israeli salad [cucumber, tomato, red onion, lemon, EVOO, & dill], grilled buffalo tofu for my salads, and for dinner I grilled some chicken with buffalo sauce.. plenty of leftovers there too.

We’re set for the week! Lunches and dinners are going to be so quick and easy. It really does wonders to set aside a few hours on Sunday to cook up some food for the week. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Food for Thought

Did you do any food prep over the weekend?

Are there any foods that you love but you won’t buy because of the price tag?

Foodie Friday: Buddha’s Feast

Often times, Thursday ends up being a dinner of leftovers from the meals we had during the rest of the week. We typically plan on going out to dinner on Friday so we’re happy to use up what’s available in the fridge. This Thursday offered up some delicious choices; homemade turkey meatballs, lemon herb chicken, and roasted spicy orange chicken.

As I was trying to figure out what intrigued me, I came across this tweet. Done! I couldn’t wait to get home for dinner!

Traditionally, a “Buddha’s Feast” bowl is a vegetarian dish, but since I was using what was already cooked, I decided a turkey meatball would be a great addition. Below is the recipe for the specific bowl that I made, but this is so versatile that you could really make it with anything! The end of this post has a bunch of different options you could try!

Buddha’s Feast

Serves 1

Ingredients
– 2 beets; sliced
– 1/2 medium sweet potato; diced
– 1 cup broccoli florets
– 2 oz turkey meatball
– 1 cup baby spinach
– 1 tbsp peanuts; chopped
– 1 – 2 tbsp spicy Thai peanut sauce [recipe below]
– 1/3 – 1/2 tbsp EVOO
– Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place beets and sweet potato on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, season with salt and pepper to taste, and roast about 20 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven, add broccoli florets, and toss with EVOO, salt, and pepper. Return to the oven and roast another 20 minutes until all vegetables are tender.

In a bowl, add your spinach and top with roasted vegetables and turkey meatball. Drizzle with spicy Thai peanut sauce, top with chopped peanuts, and devour!

Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients
– 2 tbsp peanut flour*
– 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
– 1/2 tbsp lite soy sauce
– 1/2 tbsp garlic chili paste
– 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Directions
Add all ingredients into a small bowl and mix until well combined.

Nutritional Information
Per Buddha’s Feast bowl with 1 serving Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

371 Calories  /  18g Fat  /  37g Carbs  /  7g Sugar  /  10g Fiber  /  23g Protein

Additional Buddha’s Feast Options

Bases:
– Quinoa
– Brown rice

Greens:
– Spinach
– Kale
– Collard greens
– Swiss chard

Roasted Vegetables:
– Sweet Potato
– Broccoli
– Brussels sprouts
– Asparagus
– Beets

Protein:
– Chicken
– Beef
– Turkey
– Tofu
– Tempeh
– Beans
– Nuts
– Seeds

Dressings:
– Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
– Creamy Tahini Nooch
– Spinach Basil Walnut Pesto Aioli

Food for Thought

Do others’ posts or tweets ever inspire your meals? How would you customize this bowl?

National Peanut Butter Day {Giveaway!}

Today might just be my most favorite day of the year; National Peanut Butter Day. There’s nothing I love more than opening a fresh jar of peanut butter and, of course, grabbing a spoon for that very first bite. Ok, maybe first few bites.. thanks, Mom 😉

There actually was a time that I sent my mom this picture. She totally understood and I’m sure her response was something along the lines of “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!” So you see, peanut butter has always had a special place in my heart. And not only is it delicious, it’s also quite good for you!

In honor of National Peanut Butter Day, I have not only compiled a list of peanut butter delicious recipes from my blog for your quick browsing pleasure, but I also have a very special giveaway! First things first.

Peanut Butter Recipes

• Hail Merry Peanut Butter Coconut Banana Bites
• Healthy Banana Peanut Butter Cups*
• Peanut Chili Baked Tofu*
• Tilapia Stir-Fry with Chili Peanut Sauce*
• Peanut Butter Cup Protein Shake*

And don’t forget to top all of your oatmeal with a deliciously large scoop of peanut butter for maximum dining pleasure! You know I added a little extra to my breakfast this morning.. it’s only right.

*These recipes use peanut flour, but that can be substituted with peanut butter.

And now for the giveaway! Peanut Butter & Co. was kind enough to send me a few samples to review [practically a dream come true!] and offer one lucky reader the chance to win 3 jars! It was a tough choice, but in the end, I went for White Chocolate Wonderful, Mighty Maple, and Old Fashioned Smooth. These proved to be fantastic choices!

I started out trying the White Chocolate Wonderful, which happens to be very appropriately named; it was absolutely wonderful! Next I tried the Mighty Maple, and while I didn’t think it would be able to get better than the White Chocolate Wonderful, it did! Holy moly, this one is so good! Finally, the Old Fashioned Smooth; full of peanuty flavor as the only two ingredients are peanuts and salt. I love that! And now I’m offering one of you the chance to try all of these fantastic flavors!

Peanut Butter & Co. Giveaway

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, January 31st, 11:59 pm EST. A winner will be chosen on Friday, February 1st.

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

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

3. Like Peanut Butter & Co. and Barr & Table on Facebook and leave a comment telling me. (Optional)

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

5. Tweet “I entered to win some @PeanutButterCo from @BarrAndTable and you can too! http://wp.me/p2mo7x-g2” 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.

Happy National Peanut Butter Day! Eat up! 😉

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?