Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Random Updates

So this is just gonna be a slightly random post and I'm not entirely sure what category it falls under. I couldn't decide so I just ended up adding another section under health&fitness where you'll be able to find these. Basically I just wanted to do posts like this every so often because I feel like sometimes we can forget (maybe it's just me) that people on the internet or social media are actual real-life people. Usually we only get a snapshot of their life but I wanted to go beyond that. A lot of what happens during my day may not fall into one of the categories of recipes, fitness, or beauty which is why this post is random!

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

One-pot Brown Rice and Snap Pea Stir Fry

Yesterday when I got home from the gym my sister was wonderful enough to have dinner ready for me! There was just one minor drawback-- she forgot that we decided on brown rice and made me brussel sprouts instead. It wasn't a huge deal at all but for those of you who plan your macros like I do, it can be hard to make little last minute adjustments like that. Sadly, brussel sprouts just weren't going to fit but luckily we had some brown rice on hand that doesn't take too long to make!

I love the quick-cook organic Basmati rice from Trader Joe's so it was a lifesaver when I had to make some rice last minute. The chicken was already made by my lovely sister and I had already planned on adding some snap peas to make myself a little rice bowl. As the rice was cooking, an idea occurred to me. Why don't I just make stir fry?

Monday, August 25, 2014

Quinoa Chip Salad

I have a new obsession that has replaced my love of using popcorn as croutons: quinoa chips. They're basically like a tortilla chip only made with quinoa! My sister found them at Sam's Club and I'm completely in love with using them on salads. All I do is crumble up one or two on top and voila! I have fauxtons-- that's my new highly scientific term for fake croutons.

I've tried other brands of quinoa chips but this one is my favorite by far. I've been really impressed with Sam's Club lately and their expansion of their snacks and other foods. They have a lot more organic and non GMO brands now, and are definitely appealing to a wider volume of customers. Sure it's probably for business reasons but at the same time it benefits me!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Honesty Hour: Weathering the Storm

I'm going to be 100% honest here and say that this past week has been a struggle. Even though I did all my workouts and hit my macros, I just felt a little off and bloated. It was really discouraging because I felt like I wasn't making any progress. I've been working with my trainer to build more lean muscle and let me tell you, it has been a test of my patience. 

Friday, August 22, 2014

Chicken Wrapadillas

Remember the wraps I used when making banana wraps? Well I decided to use them to make chicken quesadillas last night and it was delicious! It was really easy to throw together and took me no time at all to make them. 

The best part was that these wraps were very macro-friendly! They're lower in carbs than bread which made it easier for me to fit them in. It's all about balance and by adding chicken and cheese, I was able to meet my protein and fats as well. 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Labels Smabels

For those of you who have been following this blog and some of the articles I post about, you had to have known this one was coming.

As soon as I saw the posts on Facebook and other social media, my jaw dropped. I was in total shock because the whole idea was utterly, completely, and absurdly ridiculous.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Honey-Nut Cheerios Parfait

I picked up some fresh strawberries grocery shopping and it's been one of the best batches of the summer! I love when that happens and I can't get enough of it when the fruit is so fresh and ripe. These strawberries were spot on and I've been putting them in everything the past couple days. 

My favorite thing to add them to? A greek yogurt parfait. I'm out of granola so I've been making due with various types of cereals but it's still just as good!

My latest obsession has been 6oz of plain greek yogurt (sweetened with some stevia), 1/3 cup honey-nut cheerios, and 1/4 cup fresh strawberries. 




What's your favorite way to enjoy fresh fruit?

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Egg-white Veggie Scramble

Saturday morning I whipped up some scrambled eggs and veggies as a lunch/post-workout meal. I have never liked egg yolks--the taste, texture, whatever it is about them I'm not a fan. So I like to leave them out and stick with liquid egg whites. 

I get the all-natural organic liquid egg whites from Trader Joe's and make sure there aren't any funny preservatives or ingredients in them. My sister says it's unnatural and the liquid ones freak her out but I'd rather eat them then waste all the yolks I would throw out. 

This was a great post-workout meal because it was packed with protein as well as nutrients from the vegetables. I chopped up 3/4 of a yellow bell pepper and diced 1/2 cup sugar snap peas to add in with the egg whites. 

All I did was scramble the egg whites with some salt and pepper until they were nearly cooked and then added in the veggies. I cooked it for another couple minutes until the peppers and snap peas were softened and then dug in!


Sorry for the not-so-great picture quality because the steam kept fogging up the lens!

I also had one of my trusty balance bars on the side for that extra protein, cookie dough flavor of course. Gotta keep up with my macros :)

This is also great for making ahead if you know you'll need a post-workout or snack on the go. I made one last night and then brought it with me to the gym this morning to eat on my way to work. That is if you don't mind the egg whites being cold, which I don't because the taste is still great! Food prep is the key for staying on track, and after working chest and triceps this morning I was in need of good fuel! 

Monday, August 18, 2014

IIFYM...if em? If y em? Wait, what?

Okay so I've been making hints and mentioning changes about my diet in some previous posts so now I'm finally done writing this post explaining everything. It's a long story but I'm just going to start from the beginning.

I remember when I first started seeing all the hastags with "iifym" and I had no idea what it meant. So eventually I googled it and figured out that it meant If It Fits Your Macros. This still had zero meaning to me but I was satisfied that I now knew what the acronym stood for. So I let it go for awhile until I saw on instagram a post about it from one of the fitness girls I follow. She was talking about the opposing views of clean eating vs. iifym so I clicked on her post to read more about it. Now, I'm not saying she did a bad job of explaining anything but the idea that I got from her description about iifym was that it wasn't a healthy lifestyle. The example was that you can eat anything as long as it fits within your macros and if you wanted you could eat 2,000 calories worth of cupcakes (if it fits your specified macros) every day versus clean foods and you'll still be healthy. At first I thought that was absurd because I wouldn't want to fill up all day on cupcakes and didn't think it was a healthy option. So I dismissed iifym.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Chicken Salad

Hey guys!

I just realized I haven't posted anything in almost a week which I have no idea how time got away from me that badly! I had a mini stay-cation from Thursday to Sunday so I was pretty much off the grid just relaxing. I was thinking it was only Thursday or Friday since I last posted but I was clearly wrong! I have a ton of posts to catch up on so I'll be getting those up as quickly as possible.

The first thing I want to share with you is an amazing salad that I made on Friday for dinner because it was seriously one of the best salads I've made in awhile, maybe ever. It was random assortment of whatever I could find in my house and it all worked together deliciously!

This salad had:
3 oz chicken
3-4 cups organic mixed greens
3 strawberries, halved
Couple of red grapes, halved
Handful of mini heirloom tomatoes, halved
Brussel sprouts (sauteed)
Onion (sauteed)
Slivered Almonds
Feta cheese
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup sugar snap peas
1 quinoa tortilla chip, crumbled
1 dried apricot, diced
2 tbsp raspberry vinaigrette

I ended up with a lot more components than I originally planned because I just kept perusing my kitchen and finding more things I wanted to add to the salad. I absolutely love adding warm components to a cold salad which is why I decided to saute the brussel sprouts and onions plus it adds great flavor! So while I was cooking the chicken I cooked the veggies, too.


Also this turned out to be one of the best batches of chicken in a long time-- it was so juicy and flavorful! I cook my chicken in a different way than everyone always says. You're supposed to sear it first to get color and then cook it through but I do the exact opposite. I allow the chicken to cook more than halfway through and then crank up the heat to sear the outside to get some color. I find that when I do it the other way the chicken always dries out much quicker. This goes against what most people will say but to each his own, though, and I find I have more success cooking the chicken this way!


I know you can't see everything since it's just a giant pile of random but I promise it's all in there!


My taste buds were in heaven. Then, as if dinner wasn't enough, it was also "Treat Yoself Friday" as I have begun to call it. Any Parks and Rec fans? Well if you are then you know what I'm talking about with "treat yoself". 


We decided to go to Glen's which is a small ice cream stand nearby us. It's all homemade, low prices, and the flavors never disappoint! It's really a hidden gem and by the grace of God they had a new flavor-- cake batter. I mean homemade cake batter flavored custard? This is the working of a divine mastermind. So since I hit my macros perfectly all week and my trainer readily supports a treat meal, I savored this cake batter hot fudge sundae without zero guilt. Didn't trigger a binge or anxiety or fear of foods or anything! I have never had more balance in my life with my relationship with food than in the past couple months. It's amazing and I promise that post is coming soon, too! 


Someone else came along for the ride! She gets so excited to come with us in the car and was even more excited when she got her own little kiddie scoop of ice cream. I mean after all who said she can't participate in Treat Yoself Friday?!


Once we got home I crashed on the couch in a full-on food coma and we had a cozy night in watching cheesy ABC Family movies on Netflix. Our new streaming device came for our TV so we wasted no time in setting it up to get our chick-flick fix! And of course, I had some company. 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Balls

I don't think I could have made the title longer but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned all the good stuff! a.k.a. the chocolate and peanut butter ;)

Seriously, though, if you're a big fan of peanut butter then this is the treat for you! This isn't one of my healthy recipes but I'm a firm believer in treating yourself. I have my treat meal every Friday and I look forward to them now! It used to give me stress and worry to go off plan but I'm able to actually enjoy a treat without having anxiety over triggering a binge.

But thanks to my macros I can fit in tasty sweets like these without even having to consider it a treat! I have a separate post about that because in the past couple months I've made some changes in my diet that have really been a game changer for me! Not to be dramatic but probably more along the lines of a life saver.



Back to this recipe, what you'll need is: 
1 cup Rice Krispies
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips


Like I said this recipe is for peanut butter lovers so if you want to cut back on the peanut butter you can always use a little less. I used 1/3 cup but you can take out a tablespoon or two. If you're adding more peanut butter, though, you'll probably have to add a bit more cereal to balance it out. To make these a little sweeter just add more honey or chocolate chips.




To make them mix the peanut butter and honey together
      ***little tip: spray the measuring cup and tablespoon with non-stick spray so the honey and                       peanut butter come out smoothly


Then add the cereal and mix gently so you don't crush up the cereal. Finally fold in the chocolate chips. 


The mixture will be really sticky so I left it in the fridge to firm up while I did some cleaning around the kitchen. I probably left it in there for about 10 minutes before forming the balls. 

This recipe made about 7 but you could always divide that in half for 14 mini ones! 


To store them I kept them in the fridge because it was really hot in my house and they got sticky if I left them out on the counter. 
I was happy with how these turned out and they reminded me of the taste of Buckeye's with just an extra crunch from the rice krispies! 

Monday, August 11, 2014

Watermelon Salad & an Afternoon Hike!

This weekend the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I knew I wanted to take full advantage of it! There's a nice wooded area a few blocks up from my house with plenty of trails and a creek so I like to take Layla for walks there. She absolutely loves going there and we're able to take her off leash so she can swim and explore around!

Before going Saturday afternoon, I made a salad for lunch full of fresh fruits and vegetables.

This salad had:
1/4 cup chopped watermelon
3-4 mini heirloom tomatoes
1/4 orange bell pepper
2 tbsp feta cheese
1/4 snap peas, halved
3 cups mixed greens
5 egg whites (not pictured)
1 dried apricot, diced
1 tbsp raspberry balsamic vinaigrette

I also had a balance bar with my salad for extra protein. I'm absolutely in love with the cookie dough flavored ones!







Layla definitely lives up to her retriever blood since she loves anything to do with the water! She was just itching to get in the creek and made a beeline for it as soon as we let her off the leash. 


 After our hike everyone was tired out! I was doing some reading in my room when Cosmo came up to cuddle. Layla didn't want to miss out so she wanted to get in on the cuddles, too! My sister snapped this picture of us all piled on my bed. Slowly but surely Layla is making friends with the cats, especially Cosmo. She always means well but to her surprise none of the cats ever seem to want to play wrestle with her.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Statistics That Should Scare Us

I was doing some online research when I stumbled across this website called Find Your True Beauty and I wanted to share some of the statistics they provided because these numbers are startling.


Source: Find Your True Beauty (findyourtruebeauty.com/statistics)

- 80% of women say that the images of women on television, in movies, fashion, and the media makes them feel insecure
- 42% of girls in first grade want to be thinner
- 81% of 10-year olds are afraid of being fat
- More than 50% of teenage girls are, or think they should be, on a diet. They want to lose some or all of the 40lbs that females naturally gain between ages 8-14. About 3% of those teens go too far to either anorexia or bulimia.
- Without treatment, up to 20% of those with serious eating disorders die. With treatment the number of deaths is still around 2-3%

Even more startling is the fact that supermodels in the fashion industry are thinner than 98% of American women. The average American woman is 5'4" and weighs 140lbs while the average model is 5'11" and weighs 117lbs. Just out of my own curiosity, I googled those BMIs to calculate them and the average woman has a BMI of 24.0 while models are at 16.3, making them 16 pounds underweight. A healthy BMI is between 18.5-24.9 which means at 5'11" the models should be at least 133 pounds. Now, I know that BMIs aren't always the most accurate because there's a lot of room for error but for my purposes it was serving as a basic guideline.

Either way, we are allowing designers, companies, and advertisements to brand themselves with the images of women who are underweight and certainly not an accurate representation of women. I don't believe it was meant to be harmful but according to these numbers it's doing a world of harm. I mean SIX YEAR OLDS think they need to be thinner! You know what 6 year-olds should be thinking about? Friends, family, cookies, candy, puppies, playing outside, games...I mean the list goes on but the point is they shouldn't be worrying about their weight at all! Ideally no woman should be worried about her weight because it's none of society's darn business what she weighs. It's no one's business as a matter of fact because who cares what a woman weighs? But more importantly, what gives them the right to think they can tell a woman what she should weigh?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: that number doesn't define you. And more importantly, it can't define you. A numerical value as simple as your relationship with gravity tells you nothing about the kind of person you are. We were all created individually and for a purpose that is solely our own, something much bigger than that number. People often stress too much over that number and I used to do it too. But for what purpose? It's not like there's an 11th Commandment: "Thou Shalt Not Weigh over 117 pounds."

At the end of the day, you're beautiful regardless of what image is portrayed by society. Who cares what the girl in the magazine looks like because she's not you and that's meant to be a wonderful thing. You are your own person, you have your own beauty, and your own gifts and talents. I'm 5'1" and weighing in at who-gives-a-crap, and I've learned to embrace the fact that I will never look like the women in the media. And I don't mean accept because to me that has the negative connotation of settling, like I want to look like those women but can't so I just have to deal with it. No, I mean embrace as in celebrate, appreciate, rejoice that my body is my own and no one else's.

So I think it's clear that based of these numbers, change is desperately necessary. I look at my 7 year-old little cousin who is beautiful, bubbly, and a little sassy (but in an adorable way) and I instantly know that I don't want her growing up this way. In fact, I look at all my family and friends, including the guys, and I don't want any of them to feel this way. We are all more than just a number on a scale, inches on a measuring tape, or the size of our clothes. And that is worthy of a celebration.

Who's with me?

Friday, August 8, 2014

Mustard-Glazed Salmon

Guess what? It's Fridaaaay!

Last night for dinner, we took a break from all the chicken and had salmon instead. Target has a great brand of wild-caught salmon that we like to stock up on because it stores perfectly in the freezer. The filets are already pre-packaged individually which is really helpful, too! 

One of my favorite ways to prepare salmon is with a mustard glaze. Awhile back I was thinking of a new chicken recipe and saw something about a mustard glaze so I wanted to try making my own. For some reason we had about 5 different types of mustard in our fridge which I don't know why anyone needs that many mustards but it happened to work out! I was able to play around with the different flavors of mustard to figure out which ones I liked in the glaze. The chicken was delicious with the mustard so I decided to put it on other stuff, too. Which led us to mustard-glazed salmon!

So for the glaze: 
2 tbsp Trader Joe's Hot&Sweet mustard
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp honey mustard
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2-1 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

If you're a huge mustard fan then this glaze is the glaze for you! You can always add more or less mustard depending on how strong you want it. I like adding the honey for a little bit of sweetness especially with having the dijon mustard. I waited to add the salt and pepper until the end because that gave me a better idea of what needed balanced before adding the final seasonings. You don't have to measure it out exactly because I just eyeballed all of it. In fact I don't think I've ever actually measured out the mustards but just mix until I get it to a taste I like. For the sake of this post, though, I decided it would be helpful to actually keep track of what I put in so I could give an accurate estimation. 

Pour the glaze over the salmon (this batch covered about 3 small-medium filets) and bake the salmon at 425 for about 12-15 minutes until it's nice and flaky. 

The glaze will seem runny at first but it'll firm up as the salmon bakes. I had mine with steamed broccoli and brown rice!



Thursday, August 7, 2014

Banana Bread Cookies

This is by far my favorite healthy cookie recipe because it's so simple but comes out delicious every time! If you're a huge fan of banana bread then you'll love these because it literally tastes like banana bread in little cookie form. I had seen a posting of this recipe a couple years ago on Pinterest but the picture and pin didn't link back to an actual site. I've googled it before and it looks like tons of people have claimed credit for this recipe so I'm not sure who to give credit to but if you're out there, thank you very much!

I wish I could say I was the genius who developed this recipe but sadly I can't although that won't stop me from sharing it with you! I have played around with it before, though, with certain add-ins so I guess that means I've sorta contributed to the recipe, right? Well I did say sort of.

Anyway, it's really easy and you only need 2 ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1 cup oats

Voila! I'm not kidding, it's that simple! I've made this recipe plenty of times before so I've made some adjustments to make it my own. Here's the recipe I follow:
2 ripe bananas
1 cup oats
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp of cinnamon (mostly just a sprinkle)

That's just to make them plain but you can add in whatever you like to make them more like cookies. I've done semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries, and fresh blueberries! You could also do cocoa powder to make them chocolate, almond butter, or peanut butter/PB2 to get peanut butter cookies maybe even more cinnamon to get a snicker doodle-type taste. Actually I'm giving myself some ideas as I type this...

1. Preheat the oven to 350

2. Mash the bananas and add the rest of the ingredients + any add-ins you would like























3. Place on a greased baking sheet or a sheet lined with silpat.
You should get around 14 tablespoon-sized
cookies

4. Bake for about 11-14 minutes depending on your oven.

The cookies won't spread out or brown all that much on top so you have to check the bottoms. When they're firm and lightly golden then you know they're done!

5. Eat immediately!

My favorite is when they're fresh from the oven and still warm. I drizzle an extra bit of honey and sometimes will sneak extra cinnamon or chocolate chips on top. Trust me, they're delicious! You won't even know how healthy they are for you and the nutrition facts will leave you feeling guilt-free:

***calories per cookie: 38, 8g carbs, 0.5g fat, and 1g of protein (this is without any add-ins)

Nom nom nom nommmm

Enjoy!!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Squash & Spinach Medley

I love trying out new recipes and learning about what works and doesn't work when cooking but most of the time I don't have anything fancy for dinner. I'm perfectly happy with a simple protein dish and veggies on the side! Typically what my dinner looks like is some kind of chicken, fish, or lean turkey with a vegetable and carb. It might be boring or too standard for someone else but the key is to switch up the flavors! Sometimes we'll do spicy chicken or add asian flavors or cook the vegetables a different way.

Last night was a typical dinner night with a chicken dish and veggies. I made one of my favorite chicken recipes Chicken Pesto Bake and didn't know what to make as a side. I checked the fridge and we had zucchini, squash, and spinach so I thought it would be tasty to have a medley of all three!

It was really easy to throw together and the timing worked perfectly with the chicken. Once I put the chicken in the oven it took about 20 minutes to cook which was just the amount I needed to prep the zucchini and squash then get it cooked.

What you'll need:
1 medium zucchini
1 medium squash
6 cups spinach
2 tbsp fresh minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop up the zucchini and squash and cook over medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper.


2. Once the zucchini-squash is about 3/4 of the way cooked, add the spinach and cover the pan until the spinach wilts.

3. Add in the garlic and cook for another couple minutes until all the veggies are cooked





 I ended up getting a lot more zucchini and squash than I thought once I cooked it up but it's great to have leftovers!


Example A: I got to put some extra on my salad for lunch the next day! This salad had egg whites, tomatoes, mixed greens, grapes, peppers, and dried apricots. 


It was also an exciting day because I was finally able to go to the backyard to get the fresh herbs my sister has been growing in her garden! I love being able to just go out the back door and have fresh herbs and vegetables at my fingertips. I also love that I get to reap the benefits without having to do any of the work :)

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

3 Miles & Peanut Butter Smoothie!

It's been a great start to the day so far! This morning was in the low 60s which was the perfect temperature for a run. So I grabbed Layla and we headed out the door for our Tuesday run. I even bumped it up to 3 miles this week and she did great! I'm telling you it still surprises me how much she loves to run because for an 8 month old puppy she can be pretty lazy. And by pretty I mean extremely since she's awake for a maximum of like 6 hours a day. No complaints though because with my mom the last thing we would need is a hyperactive puppy around her. 

When we got back it was time for some post-workout fuel. For Layla she got frozen carrots and for myself a delicious smoothie! I knew it was meant to be when I found out that Layla shares my obsession with carrots. When she was teething we used to give her frozen carrots to chew on and she still loves them so I give them to her as a treat after our runs. 

My smoothie had: 
2 cups almond milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 medium banana

I forgot to take a picture of my smoothie before I gobbled it down plus I was busy snapping a picture of this little cutie pie. 


I mean, come on, would you rather see a picture of a smoothie or a puppy anyway? 

I doubt the smoothie would even stand a chance ;)


Just to add to the cuteness here's a picture my sister snagged on our daily walk last night. Amanda won't let me get another dog so often times I kidnap our aunt's dog Lola so I can pretend we have two. Lola is actually Layla's older half sister since we got them from the same place. She was so perfect that we decided we wanted one of our own! 

Hope you're all having a great start to the week so far :)

Monday, August 4, 2014

Leg Day Workout 2

Happy leg day all!

Like I said I've been working on different at-home weight workouts and last week I posted my first leg day workout. This week I tried another workout and loved it too! 

Here's what I did: 

3x15 sumo squats
3x15 reverse lunges
3x15 single leg dead lifts (30 reps per leg)
3x15 step-ups
100 walking lunges (40, 30, 30)
4x15 single leg calf raise (30 reps per leg)

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Pineapple & Snap Pea Salad

I first feel obligated to warn you that the following ingredient you will find in this post is highly, highly addictive: toasted oat flakes.

I know, I know they may not sound remotely appetizing let alone addictive but that's where they get you. Seriously my coworker just got a box because I recommended them and she yelled at me this morning because she ate half the box overnight. Well, she didn't actually yell but she now knows firsthand why I can't keep them in the house that often.

On the rare chance that I do have them I will literally try adding them to whatever dish I can. For the future I'm thinking of a toasted flake crusted chicken like you can do with cornflakes. But in this case I substituted them as croutons on my salad.

This salad had:
1/2 cup diced pinapple
1/2 cup snap peas, cut in half
1 dried apricot, diced
2 cups mixed greens
1 cup arugula
3-4 mini heirloom tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp raspberry vinaigrette
1/4 cup toasted oatmeal flakes
3 egg whites



You might think that having dry cereal on your salad might be weird but trust me it works! The flakes give it the right amount of crunch just as a crouton would but they're much healthier for you. 


If you don't believe me try it out for yourself but be warned: you'll find it hard to stop eating those flakes!

Friday, August 1, 2014

Impromptu Parfait

Okay two very important things: 
1. it's Friday
2. I made a wonderful discovery at work the other morning

I have a greek yogurt every mid-morning as a snack to hold me over between breakfast and lunch. I don't think my coworkers would appreciate me getting hangry so it's crucial that I don't skip my snack. Same thing goes for in the afternoon but let's not get off track. 

It's normal for me to keep healthy foods around the office to keep me on track but a thought occurred to me as I realized what I had on hand: greek yogurt, an apple, and a granola bar. It slowly dawned on me what I could create and make my usual snack 15,000,000% better. 

I don't know why this hasn't occurred to me before but even though I've got packing my lunch down to a science, often times I can be bad at pre-planning what I want to keep at the office. What I do have in my office is usually the result of forgetting to bring stuff home, packing extra, or is something that I like but my coworkers didn't and gave to me. It's a random jumble but I want to get better at keeping stuff here. That may or may not happen but I'm going to try! 

So what I did was chop up my apple, add it to my yogurt, and take a piece of the granola bar and crumble it up on top. I saved a lot of it because I had big plans for it for the next couple days. 

My parfait had: 
6 oz plain greek yogurt (with stevia to sweeten it) but you could also use vanilla yogurt
1 small fuji apple
1/2 of Nature Valley granola bar

It was a total of 200 calories for the whole thing plus being loaded with protein from the greek yogurt and granola bar. Like I said I only used a half of one of the granola bar (one pack has 2 bars) but it gave the perfect amount of crunch! 


I didn't have an apple the next day but I still took the other half and added it to my yogurt that morning! I still have the second granola bar from the pack so I'll see what else I can use it for. 


What's something good you've made last minute?!