Recipe Monday

So I don't have any what I'll call legit recipes to share today. I have a few concoctions I came up with myself that I can't live without that I'd like to share with you.

My staple, go to drink in the morning. To get this creamy you need to use Coconut milk (I use Silk True Coconut) and you need to blend for like 3-4 minutes straight. I also use Lean fit Complete green Proteing powder. I'm not a fan of protein powders...this stuff... I LOVE.

The other is a new found combination that I should have tried ages ago! 1/4 cup of plain or vanilla greek yogurt with a TBSP of peanut butter (Wow Butter for me since I have a peanut allergy). This is sooo yummy. Seriously, I can't wait to have it again tomorrow!

I also took a picture of all of my meals today. I work a strange shift so most of my meals I eat from containers. It's tough when you're eating healthy and need to pack 4 of your 5 meals. So here were my meals today....

The shake above was my breakfast.

Morning Snack

(I changed this from the menu, I had 1 cup cottage cheese, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and 6 almonds with a little balsamic vinegar. So good!)

Lunch

(This got changed too, when I noticed we had leftovers. It's the kung pao pork from the other night. Hey... that's a recipe we tried! I'll get the link and share/review it)

So the next "snack" was really my supper, it's just how the timing worked out.

(Chicken parmesan with zuchini noodles. YUM)

Last, I had my greek peanut butter yogurt with some leftover roasted brussel sprouts. (Not together!)

I also got to the gym today. I completed day 1 week 2 of couch potato to 5K. I'm not exactly a couch potato. I could have probably moved to week 3, but I decided to start at week 2. No need to rush things, right? Here's the below chart I'm using from couch potato to 5k from Fitbody HQ

I guess that's today. I feel really good today. I feel like I got a handle. I'm making myself a rewards chart, I want set rewards for reaching 5lbs lost. None food/drink related rewards. Like hair cut, or manicure, or I dunno... I'll come up with stuff. Actually, that might be my motivation Tuesday post...

YUMMY no-bake granola bars

I've been struggling with snacks and my dietician on BLC suggested I have a granola bar with a fruit for my afternoon snack. I'm not a fan of store bought granola bars but my Sister in law has gotten me hooked to making my own bars. I researched a bunch of different sites, and a bunch of different recipes and think I found a winner. It's actually  my own concoction. I then plugged the info into sparkpeople's sparkrecipe nutrition calculator and they're only 107 calories. Mind you they aren't huge, but neither are the lunchbox granola bars you get in stores, that are packed full of unnatural crap. 

So here's the recipe:

No Bake Granola Bars

2 cups Whole Grain Crispy Rice Cereal
1.5 cups Quick Oats
1 cup Millet Puffs
3/4 cup Pumpkin Seeds (I didn't end up using sunflower seeds, but you could mix in both just make sure it's a combined 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup Carob Chips
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/4 cup Sucanat (not pictured)

Directions:

Mix honey, almond butter and sucanat in a glass measuring cup. Microwave for 1 minute and stir. Set aside.

Mix all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Once they're all mixed. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.

Heat the honey mixture in microwave for 1 more minute. Mix well. Pour half over dry ingredients. Mix well, then pour remaining. I find this helps to get all of the mixture combined. Once everything seems 'wet', dump in pan. Press down with spoon or metal spatula. This sets fairly quickly so you will need to move fast. Make sure you press down well.

Let it set in fridge for about 1 hour. Cut into rectangles. (10 x 3) Oh and Pumpkin LOVES them! She said she can't wait for tomorrow till she can have another! :)

Servings: 30
1 bar = 1 serving

Nutritional Information courtesy of Spark People.