mmmMonday :: easy peasy Energy Bars

Recently, Jack and I have been trying to eat healthier. Since moderation is not really in either of our vocabularies, we attempt to avoid starch, dairy and sugar Monday through Friday, noon. Once the weekend hits, all bets are off and we gorge ourselves stupid ...well, not really [okay sometimes].

This tends to work fairly well. Come 3pm however, things can get a little dicey. My heart beats a little faster, my eyes get dart-y and I can't concentrate. All my thoughts are stolen by daydreams of macaroons, lemon tarts, cookies, gummy bears and milkshakes - basically, anything and everything I'm trying to avoid. 

These bars are perfect for when you're jonesing for sugar but you're trying to layoff the cookies. I mean, what's more healthy than getting your sugar fix from dates. I don't know if you know this, they're fruit!! 

The original recipe only had three ingredients but since I'm full-time fancy, I threw in some coconut. If you add coconut you'll have to offset it with a few more dates. I added 1/2 cup coconut and then an additional 1/4 dates... so three, because they're massive.

INGREDIENTS 
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup craisins [or raisins]
1 cup almonds

If you have a good food processor, go ahead and throw all the ingredients in and set to chop. I forgot about my beautiful KitchenAid blender and used my chop-o-matic. It did nothing. Actually no, scratch that. It did the almonds and then broke. Just gave up. Enter KitchenAid blender.

I then added the almonds and coconut to the fruit and let it combine for another 2 minutes. It should be fairly sticky at this point. If it's not, blend a little longer. If it still isn't, add more dates or craisins - it should help. If there's still no luck, you probably weren't meant to eat these.

Once the texture is sticky enough to not crumble, roll into a ball and place between two sheets of saran wrap. Roll out to your desired thickness and then slice into bars. These guys may not look like much but they pack a punch so don't make them too big.

Since having these my 3pm sugar rage has subsided and my coworkers no longer avoid my meeting requests.

mmmMonday: The perfect breakfast smoothie

Smoothies and I got super close over the summer, and let me tell you - I enjoyed myself. Smoothies are easy, they require minimal clean up [especially with the magic bullet] and there is really just nothing better than having a filling, delicious smoothie for breakfast every. day. of. the. week. After having made them all summer long, my process is down to a Sorren-friendly science.

3/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 - 1 banana [always depended on how many I had left]
1/2 teaspoon agave or honey
1 teaspoon matcha [for your caffeine-kick]
1/2 scoop whey protein [if you have any]

My ingredients tended to vary slightly depending on what I had on hand / was able to steal from my parents house. I know, I know - I am definitely too old to be stealing food from my parents house but I'm a big weirdo and don't like to spend money on things like whey protein - however, I WILL spend endless amounts of cheese. 

If you have whey and/or matcha, what you want to do first is pour in the almond milk and then add the whey and/or matcha and blend. Not only does this make the smoothie deliciously frothy, but it mixes up the powders so they aren't gross, ruining your smoothie one clump at a time later. 

Once blended add blueberries, banana, agave and yogurt. I like to keep the blueberries by the top so they don't stunt the movement and yogurt closest to the blades to help with blending. I also like to hide the agave inbetween the fruit and yogurt so it doesn't get stuck to the sides. Like I said, down to a science.

With the bullet I blend it for about 2 minutes, 3 tops and then that's it. You are good to go! If it's too thick, add extra almond milk until you have it to your liking. If you're full time fancy, feel free to put it in a glass... but be warned, that will take longer and create extra dishes.

mmmMonday: Yogurt with Toasted Quinoa, Nuts and Dates

This summer, before our wedding, Jack and I focused on eating a little healthier. The first wave of this came at the beginning of June when we cut out all chips, french fries [SO hard considering my excessive love of poutine], ice cream [unless, of course, we were at the beach], pop, juice and all unnecessary bread. We also stopped having cereal and toast for breakfast. Instead we switched to omelets when we had lots of time, smoothies when there was none and this delicious yogurt dish when we fell in the middle. 

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon red quinoa

¾ cup Greek yogurt - we've used plain, vanilla and lemon - all were perfection. 

2 Dates

5 Almonds, chopped

5 shelled Pistachios, chopped

Pinch of lemon rind

1 to 2 teaspoons Olive Oil

Begin by laying out your ingredients. Chop the pistachios, almonds and dates. Grate the lemon rind and grab your salt. If you have everything ready and laid out [and don't take photos while preparing the dish] the entire process should take just under ten minutes - a respectable amount of time to make a very impressive and 

Add the quinoa to a pan on medium heat for five minutes to toast. We used blond since we had so much on hand, although I have had this with red quinoa and I would definitely recommend it - if only because it  looks so. damn. good. While waiting on the quinoa to pop, toss the nuts in a pan and put them in the oven to roast - 350 degrees for five minutes should work.

Sprinkle the quinoa, nuts and dates on the yogurt once they are finished, and then drizzle olive oil. If the olive oil weirds you out - don't worry, I made a face when I first saw this part but believe it, it's amazing. Seriously. It makes the whole dish velvety and rounds out the taste. Top it off with your lemon rind and a dash of salt and enjoy!

Food Friday: Strawberry yogurt bites

This week's food friday is a quick and easy summer snack to cool you down and keep you away from the ice cream*. I first saw this idea on Pinterest [obviously] and knew right then and there that I would be eating them soon - the fact that there were no directions was just a small hurdle to be overcome. 

I mean it's not like you really need directions since the original image is pretty straightforward - dip strawberries in greek yogurt, freeze [for 40 minutes]. That should be it. Directions = done. Problem is, the photo on pinterest makes them look oh-so-perfect and mine turned out a little fugly. 

I did what I could. I used my mini muffin pan to hold them each separately so they didn't freeze together. I used my tea measurement spoon to roll them in the yogurt and then scoop them out for optimal coverage, but they just aren't incased in a round ball of yogurty goodness... it's more like a misshapen lump. Still tasty, but not pretty.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get them pretty. Perhaps the girl has a circular mould that shuts on the top and allows them to maintain that shape... or maybe, she goes into the freezer halfway through the freezing process and rolls them in the palms of her hands. At this point, I have no clue, BUT I will definitely let you know if I figure it out because, I mean, who wants fugly delicious yogurt strawberry balls when they can have pretty ones? Stay tuned...

*Results may vary. This is a day-by-day battle