Calling All Coffee Lovers

Starbucks is having their Happy Hour for Frappuccino's once again!!!

 

May 3rd to 12th

from 3-5pm

 

There are two new frappuccino's, Hazelnut and Carmel Ribbon Crunch!  I have yet to try them, but I think 50% off during happy hour will be a perfect time to.  Click here for more flavors.

 

And remember there are lighter options for them all!  So enjoy this happy hour with no guilt!  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Bars

Need a fast breakfast for the work week coming up?  Here you go!

I am going to cut them into bars, put them in baggies and have an easy on the go breakfast for every day this week and some leftover for snacks.  The recipe is very easy and you will probably have almost everything in your pantry already!  If you don't have applesauce you can use a mashed banana instead.

The recipe calls for:
1 1/2 cups oats
1 egg
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped
a dash of salt

-- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-- Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.
-- Spray a pie pan with cooking oil and pour the mixture in.
-- Bake for 20 minutes.
-- Store in the fridge.

In Honor of Earth Day

A 6 mile hike on a beautiful Sunday morning...

    

  

Best Part of Warm Weather: Grillin'

Shoprite got their first corn of the season!  They were on the smaller side though.  I should've took a trip to the farm, it would've been local and probably bigger.  Oh well, next time for sure!  The farmers market by me opens on June 23rd so I can also go too.  I can't wait for it to open!  That will be a nice Sunday tradition when I need good produce.

Decided last night was a good day for grilling.  We always grill burgers and that type of stuff, but I wanted to grill some fish this time.  We put a spice of our choice on the flounder, I picked cajun seasoning and grilled them up.  The corn was also cooked on the grill and I made a little salad to top my flounder.The salad just has chopped tomato, garlic and basil and the grilled corn.  I also added a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  I really wanted to add avocado to the salad but unfortunately I couldn't find a ripe one.

Zucchini Cakes Turned to Hash

The recipe calls for:
2 eggs
3 zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
4 tbs flour
7 green onions, chopped
1 tsp baking powder
pepper, to taste
cooking spray oil

-- Drain the shredded zucchini of the excess water it contains the best you can.
-- Mix the eggs, zucchini, cheese, flour, onions, baking powder and pepper in a large bowl.
-- Spray a large non-stick pan with cooking oil.
-- Place the zucchini mixture in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes.  Mix while cooking so all the zucchini gets browned up a little.

The reason I think this recipe didn't turn into the cakes I wanted is because I didn't fry them up in butter and oil like the original recipe said to.  I wanted to make it healthier.  If you wanted to you could make the mixture into patties and fry them up in more then just cooking spray oil.  You could also add a little more flour to make them into more of a cake as well.  The hash was just as tasty though, the mounds of oil and butter isn't necessary.  I also think if the shredded zucchini was drained a little more of the water it holds it could've worked better too.  You always learn something while cooking!

Leftovers Inspiration: Buffalo Pizza

Homemade pizza dinner instead of ordering in!  Much quicker then delivery, much healthier and without the guilt the next day...

Use what you have!  I had leftover homemade buffalo hummus, the 5 grain flax flatbread leftover and was craving pizza so I added the hummus to the flatbread, sprinkled some part-skim mozzarella cheese and a few dashes of buffalo hot sauce.  YUM!

It's so weird, years ago I didn't even like pizza, now I am pizza obsessed!  At least there are healthy alternatives.

Cut Costs & Cut Calories, Coffee Style

In today's economy I think most people are trying to find more and more ways to cut every day expenses.  With doing this we still want to be able to enjoy things that we love though.  We can't give up everything or life wouldn't be as enjoyable.  For me my favorite cost is Starbucks coffee.  It's something that immediately brightens my day.  As much as I know I could do without and I do do without it when it just can't fit it into my budget on certain tight months/weeks, sometimes you just need to have it.

"Coffee makes it possible to get out of bed, but chocolate makes it worthwhile."

My usual drink is a Grande Non-Fat Mocha (only one pump, no whip), this is the basic mixture of espresso and chocolate, two of my favorite things.  The normal grande size has four pumps of mocha (all flavored espresso drinks have four pumps at a grande size), but to cut calories I only get one because it's just enough to taste the mocha without it being overbearing.  Sometimes too much chocolate is too much, believe it or not.  You can do without all the pumps in all of their drinks if your thinking about your waistline.

A way to cut calories and also cost is to make your own espresso drink, but still with the taste of Starbucks signature espresso.  If you have a espresso machine, like I do, just purchase Starbucks espresso beans, but even with having a maker I rarely actually make it myself.  It's just easier and for me faster to just stop in the Starbucks I pass daily.  But I more recently found something for the Keurig that you can put in your own espresso beans, grounded already.  It's called a reuseable filter, check your local Kitchen product stores.  This is much easier and faster then using an espresso machine.  So purchase your favorite espresso beans, whether it's Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or wherever and enjoy brewed espresso from your home!

Today I decided to save some cash and instead of ordering my normal hot drink at Starbucks I made a hot chocolate k-cup at home with my Keurig.  This is made with water obviously so the lack of milk will save quite a bit of calories.  This is my substitute for the chocolate flavor.  Then I made an espresso k-cup with my Keurig, mixed them together, added a little cinnammon and creamer.  It was my very own Mocha.  Granted it's not completely the same and I will still enjoy my normal drink from Starbucks when I can, but it's good to know of other options.

Grande Mocha - $4.33

2 K-Cups & Creamer - About $1.60

That is $2.73 of savings per day!

Also, at the coffee shops they have great smelling fresh baked goods that may be hard to pass up.  By not being around them you could possibly save on unneeded calories!  Make something or grab a healthy breakfast bar from home.

My Very First Homemade Hummus

And it surely won't be my last!

Quick, easy, delicious homemade Buffalo Hummus.

I am never buying hummus again!  I will forever make it from now on.  Making hummus homemade helps you skip from consuming all the added preservatives that is in store bought.  It's fresh and you know what your eating without any questions.  All homemade hummus will have one main ingredient, CHICKPEAS!  Chickpeas are high in protein, fiber and other good nutrients.

This recipe was just a few ingredients.  It is made up of 1 can of chickpeas, about 3 tablespoons of buffalo hot sauce, 3 garlic cloves, a few dashes of cumin, some garlic powder, a couple splashes of olive oil and a little bit of water.  Blend them all together in a food processor and you have hummus!

Hummus is something you can easily make in a lot of different flavors.  Always use a can of chickpeas, some sort of liquid and whatever else you like!  You can make it your own and it tastes much better than store bought.

Healthy Sun-Day

Weekends make it tough sometimes to stay active and eat healthy especially for me, but since I have started to really make it a part of my lifestyle it's much easier.  I seem to have better control too.  I went grocery shopping last night and got a lot of healthy and clean eating items.  It's weird but I actually crave healthier foods now instead of the fattening foods filled with nothing good for your body.  At Wegman's last night I was surrounded by bagels, donuts and very sugary muffins, but I choose a multi-grain carrot and apple muffin.  Eating that and a cup of skim milk was a great way to start my Sunday.

I also bought some flatbreads at Wegman's which I have never seen before at Shoprite.  The brand is "Flatout".  They are only 90 calories, 5 grain flax, great source of fiber and 53% fewer net carbs.  They are small flatbreads that are a good shape so they can also be folded in half for sandwiches or panini making.  I highly recommend them.

After relaxing at home for a bit I decided to venture out, get some coffee and drive around looking at new hiking places.  I ended up stopping at the local farm to pick up a tomato so I could use it for my lunch.  Local produce is fresher, less likely to be contaminated, tastes better and helps support your local farmers.  Having farms close by is a huge plus, not only because of the fresh food, but also it's a great atmosphere.  I got to get some sun and see some animals that brightened my day...

The duck and roaster were both very vocal and cute.  The roaster was actually waking everybody up in this picture haha.  I also saw lots of goats, bunnies and an adorable pig.

The tomato I got at the farm was perfect for my flatbread pizza I made for lunch.  I put little bit of olive oil on the bread, added slices of fresh tomato instead of tomato sauce and then sprinkled some dried basil and part skim mozzarella cheese.  Delic!  Notice the shape I was talking about...

I headed to Shoprite after the farm because I forgot to get water last night.  I got a mini work out in by carrying the water to the car and up two flights of stairs.  Every little bit counts!  :) 

Have a happy healthy Sunday everyone!

Good Choices - Smoothies

Instead of ice cream last night I decided to have something similar that would feed my craving, but that was healthy and had a lot of good things for my body in it.  I posted about this last year when it started to get warmer out, but now I finally got a smoothie drink holder so I can travel with it and not just drink it at home.  This has 1 cup of skim milk, a bag of the frozen Yoplait smoothie mix and a touch of water.  Remember they are located in the frozen desserts section at the grocery store and there are many flavors to choose from.  There are a couple new flavors this year:  Greek Mixed Berry, Greek Strawberry Banana Orange & Chocolate Strawberry in addition to Chocolate Banana (pictured), Triple Berry, Strawberry Banana, Strawberry Mango Pineapple & Blueberry Pomegranate.  There's a smoothie for everyone!

Other things that could be added to them to make it your own are: fat free peanut butter for some more protein or protein powder, brewed coffee for an on the go breakfast, any additional fruit of your choice or Nutella for a treat.  You could also use less milk and more water to have it be an even lighter drink.  With the skim milk it is 130 calories a serving or about 280-300 calories for the whole blended mixture.  I think next time I want to try less milk, maybe 3/4 cup and then 1/4 cup of water instead or I may add just a 1/2 cup of milk and a 1/2 cup of brewed espresso so I can save some money on my morning coffee! :)

Friday Night Pasta

Simple.  Easy.  Delicious.  Healthy.

What more could you want?

This pasta dish is made up of just a couple ingredients that mostly everyone has at home.  Whole wheat pasta, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, pepper and a little bit of grated parmesan cheese.  Watch your portion control, skip the bread and ENJOY!

Stuffed Peppers

The recipe calls for:

4 peppers

1/2 lb ground turkey, cooked

2 cups rice

1 can black beans

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 cup onion, chopped/cooked

1 tbs taco seasoning

1 15 oz jar of salsa

cooking spray

-- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

-- Cut the peppers in half and cut out the insides.  Disregard.  Spray cooking oil on both sides of the peppers, place in a baking dish and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

-- In a large bowl mix together the turkey meat, rice, black beans, corn, onion, taco seasoning and the salsa.

-- Spoon the mixture into each pepper halve.

-- Bake in the oven for another 15 minutes.

The toppings I used were avocado and light sour cream, but cheddar cheese, cilantro and even some shredded lettuce are other good choices.  In you want to sprinkle some cheese on them bake the peppers for a little longer until the cheese melts.

These stuffed peppers are very healthy, filling and a good source of fiber, protein and vegetables.  I had some mixture left so I made some healthy whole wheat tortilla tacos.  Great leftovers for the next day!

Wow, My Day Is Made!

Bethenny Frankel is such an inspiration to me and I am a huge fan.  Seeing her reply to one of my tweets is amazing to me.  Thank you to her!  Having famous chef Fabio and Foodie Nick reply to tweets and even do an interview with me is one thing, but this is a dream.  So happy today, life is good.  Keeping positive thoughts.

Easter Deviled Egg Dip

Wondering what to do with all those colored hard boiled eggs the kids made?  Try this recipe out!

This isn't the healthiest recipe, but it's nice for a treat.  Sometimes you need to slurge a little and what better time then on a holiday, Easter being a perfect one since it's an egg dish.  I served it with mult-grain pita chips.

The recipe calls for:
1 dozen eggs
1 cup light mayo
1 tbs yellow mustard
2 tbs white vinegar
salt & pepper
paprika

--  Fill a pot with water so that the eggs are covered about an inch.  Add the vinegar.  Once the water is brought to a boil remove the pot from heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.  Run the eggs under cold water for awhile and then peel them.
-- Cut the eggs in half.  Put all but one half of each egg white into a food processor.  The other egg white half place into a bowl.
-- In the food processor blend the eggs, mayo and mustard.  Add salt and pepper.  Blend again and put the dip into a bowl.
-- Chop up the bowl of egg whites.  Add them to the dip and mix.
-- Top the dip with a sprinkle of paprika.