strawberry banana breakfast muffins + my #4weekchallenge

Hello, friends!

So I suppose I am in need of an update as to where I have been.  I’ve been much busier than I had anticipated with work, working out, travelling around Wisco trying to be a supportive old lady, and giving myself very little time to work on myself or my blog.  Sad panda.  I’ve been in such a terrible funk lately.  I didn’t feel good about myself and was struggling with some other parts of my personal life.  Gross.  Nobody likes that.

During this time though, I realized that I wasn’t taking care of myself.  I wasn’t eating well.  I stopped working out for a bit and everything went downhill.  I felt terrible.  I craved comfort foods (mostly refined carbs…no fruits, veggies, or proteins) and when I ate them, I felt even worse.  I felt bloated from the salty, nasty, crap that I was putting into my body.  And the more I ate that stuff, the less motivated I felt and it just snowballed.

I realized that I NEED TO FOCUS ON ME FOR A WHILE.  So that is exactly what I have been doing lately.  I started my own 4 Week Challenge at the beginning of the week.  I give myself tasks each day ranging from getting a good lift in or painting my toe nails to putting together my new wine bar all by myself, cleaning my entire apartment, and creating a whole new workout plan. 

These next 4 weeks are all about me!  I will be posting updates on what I am doing for the challenges on Instagram (@itsahealthything), so head over there and see what I have been up to!  Also, I have been MUCH more active on Instagram lately.  It’s a great supportive network of people striving to be their best selves, just like I am!  It’s so encouraging to see others making progress and living their dreams.  I love the positive vibes from the Insta-fit fam.  Seriously.  Check meowt!  ;] See what I did there?

Anyway, focus……On the first day of my challenge, I wanted to remind myself how much I love cooking and baking delicious, wholesome, healthy meals and snacks.  Also, I had some nanners that were going bad from the time that I was NOT eating well.  So I decided to give myself a choice:  banana bread or strawberry banana breakfast muffins.  Well, I went for the muffins because I also had strawberries that were probably going to go bad, too.  Like I said, I failed HARD on clean eating.

I posted this recipe a while ago, but I wanted to post it again.  This oldie but goodie is a combo of two recipes that I found on (where else??) Pinterest.  Personally, I love them with a little smear of butter on them.  Something about that saltiness mixes with the sweetness of the muffins just perfectly.  Plus, I love butter.  Haha.  Sometimes I don’t know how I can be in good shape at all with my love for butter and cheese.

Anyway, here they are again!  Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Breakfast Muffins

2 ½ cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

2 eggs

½ cup honey or baking stevia

1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder

½ tsp. Baking Soda

1 or 2 bananas

1-1 ½ cups diced strawberries

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place all ingredients, except the strawberries in a blender or food processor and blend until the oats are smooth. Pour mixture into a medium sized bowl and stir in 1 cup of strawberries. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Divide remaining ½ cup of strawberries over the top of each muffin. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

And there you have it!  Twelve delicious, nutritious muffins!

Stay tuned for more updates on my 4 Week Challenge and what I am doing to focus on ME!

Stay fit!

xoxo

simple overnight oats

Hi, kids!

I have discovered something amazing!  And when I discover amazing things, I feel the need to share them…with you!  I found a recipe for overnight oats a while ago and tried it and was not at all impressed with how it turned out.  It was sufficiently tasty, but I found that the milk that I used didn’t absorb all the way and I had to heat the oats in the morning anyway.  Annoying.  Especially since the whole point of overnight oats is to skip all morning prep and just pull that bowl out of the fridge and chow down.

Anyway…focus.  I am sharing this recipe with you NOW because I found out that using unsweetened almond milk works a million kajillion times better than skim milk!  Whhhaaaat?!  I’m not sure why, but it seems to absorb better and although there is still a portion that is not absorbed, it is thicker than skim milk, so it doesn’t bother me as much.  It’s the ultimate lazy girl healthy breakfast!  Right up there with the Lazy Morning Girl’s Breakfast Muffins.  Yeah.  And they are SUPER FILLING…none of that “hungry an hour later” nonsense.

So here’s the scoop.  I’m going to give you the recipe and then you are going to try it and love it.  Got it?

Simple Overnight Oats
½ cup old fashioned oats
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
½-1 cup fresh berries/fruit (I prefer blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries)
½ tablespoon honey

Add oats, almond milk, and fruit to a bowl.  Refrigerate overnight.  In the morning drizzle with honey.  Eat and be merry.  :]

See?  Super simple.  It’s become my go-to breakfast recently.  It’s too easy.

Anyway, in other news…I have the best boyfriend ever who got me these for Valentine’s Day:

Isn’t he just the best?  AND he helped me shop for supps and pick out a couple flavors of protein to try and as a second Valentine’s gift, bought me NO-Xplode preworkout.  I have to admit, I am a little nervous about the preworkout though.  I guess we will see what happens!  So they are on the way and I can tell you more about them when I try them!

Stay fit!

xoxo

peanut butter energy squares

Okay, so these were previously known as "PB Chocolate Energy Bites", but I decided to give them a new name based one little thing:  how I portion them out.  This is a great and somewhat addicting recipe to have on-hand.  I am starting to have a couple of them on my way to the gym to give myself a little energy boost before my workout.

Although they are delicious, beware!  They aren't called "energy" squares for nothing.  What provides energy?  Calories.  Specifically the sugars in the peanut butter and honey.  I finally did the math and an entire batch is close to 2400 calories.  This is why I recommend splitting them into 24 squares for 100 calorie portions.  These are definitely calorie dense, not nutrient dense.  So, while eating a couple as a pick-me-up is fine, don't eat half of a batch of them!  You have been warned!!!!

Without further ado, here is the mouth-watering recipe:

Peanut Butter Energy Squares
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/3 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the nut butter, honey, and vanilla until smooth.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Remove from fridge.  Press into 8x8 pan.  Cut into 24 squares to make bite-sized pieces.  Store in refrigerator or freezer until you want to eat them.

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Keep in mind that you can use any nut butter that you prefer.  In addition, you can vary the ratio of flax seed to wheat germ or cut one out completely, as long as you add 1 cup total of a second dry ingredient.  Although I suppose you could just do 2 cups of old fashioned oats if you really wanted to.  Finally, you can substitute dried fruits or nuts for the chocolate chips if you want to add a bit more of a nutritional punch.

They keep pretty well, but as the dry ingredients absorb the wet ingredients, they lose their limited "crispiness".

I hope enjoy these addicting little squares!!

xoxo,

anne

blueberry banana bread

Hi all!

I don't about where you are, but here, it was a cloudy, crappy, rainy day.  Great day for sitting around, drinking coffee and listening to the rain....

I seriously sat on the computer for an hour sipping my coffee, looking out the window before I finally got off my butt and began altering my Blueberry Banana Bread Recipe!  I am still working on the brown sugar issue, but now it is egg-free!  I absolutely LOVE this recipe!  I am usually a banana bread purist, as my mom says, but I just adore the flavor that the blueberries add!  Slap a little bit of butter on it and it makes a great snack or dessert!  It's great to have a small piece warmed up while sitting in front of the (gas) fireplace, updating your blog!  :]

Anyway, here it is!  Enjoy!!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 tbsp milled flax seed
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 tbsp applesauce
3/4 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside. In medium bowl, stir together flour, oats, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. In separate medium bowl, mash bananas with fork. Add brown sugar, water, vanilla, and applesauce. Mix until smooth. Combine wet and dry ingredients together for a somewhat smooth consistency. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cut yourself a piece and curl with a hot cup of coffee and enjoy!

On another note, today I went for about a 2.5 mile run and the hill that I run up at the beginning felt like NOTHING!  It was so great!  And I felt pretty good after the run too.  It reminded me of why I used to really enjoy running!  Tomorrow I work early (for once), so I will hopefully have a circuit workout to do and post for you all!

In addition, stay tuned next week for my homemade lasagna recipe to use the rest of your spaghetti sauce!

Stay fit!

xoxo