April Challenge: Week 1 Weigh in

173.3

I think I need to get a real scale. And a heart rate monitor.

I am sore in my arms and calves from dancing yesterday. YAY! My core could really use some work which makes me lean toward doing CardioX today, but I am having a hard time talking myself into it....

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Just finished CardioX. I am impressed. It wasn't as hard as I expected it to be even with being sore!  Apparently I have built up some muscles after all :) I even did the yoga better than usual. I can already feel it in my stomach so I know I will be paying for it later today and tomorrow! But yay for following through!

Biscuit Pizza

I had a hankering for pizza today but didn't want to make a big ordeal about it, so I turned to my trusty easy pizza method.

Ingredients

1 can of refrigerated biscuits (I had homestyle on hand)
marinara sauce (or tomato sauce with added pizza seasonings)
cheddar cheese
mozzerella cheese
toppings

Directions:

Place each biscuit next to each other in the middle of a greased cookie sheet. Flatten them out to enlarge the 'crust'. They should be touching. Add a spoonful of sauce to each biscuit, then top with cheese and toppings of your choosing. Cook 10- 12 minutes at 400 degrees.

This makes for a great playgroup snack because the biscuits make a great individual serving. Today's pizza was only 80 calories a serving. Unfortunately I went overboard and ate 6!!

Peanut Butter Choco Crunch Balls

After being on vacation and eating fast food and cookies every day, I came home with a lot of cravings and no desire to return to logging my food. But, considering my body is already showing the consequences of such free eating with no exercise, back on the band wagon I go! I was hungry for something chewy and chocolate yesterday so I did a search through all the food blogs I recently discovered and decided on fitfoodiefinds.com and her array of simple 'healthy' recipes. I would have liked to try her raw brownie chews or her almond joy chews but they require dates and there are none in my cupboard. Instead I ended up making her peanut butter choco crunch balls with a slight variation.



Ingredients:

1 cup corn chex
1/4 c rolled oats
1/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. honey
1 TB cocoa powder

I crunched up the corn chex in a bag then mix all the remaining ingredients together. Use a TB or cookie scoop and shape into balls. Makes 10 - 12 balls.

I think the honey is a little overpowering and unfortunately now regular peanut butter is treating me the same as natural peanut butter so though they taste good, I can't handle eating them. Aaron really likes them though and is happy to finish my share! If I were to make them again, I would probably cut the honey back to 2 or 3 TB and the same for the peanut butter. Or add more oats.

Homemade No Bake Granola Bars

Someone just posted pics of granola bars they made on Facebook. This is an idea I have toyed with for awhile but never managed to make it to a 'do' stage. Not today. This is the link to the original recipe on Penniesandpancakes.blogpost.com. I think I will probably be spending some more time on her site because this is the kind of thing that is right up my alley!

I made two different versions: Corn chex craisins, & almond granola bar and Spooner crumb craisin granola bar

Here is the ingredient list from the original recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup packed brown sugar  
1/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 cups Quick Oats (not rolled oats)
2 cups crispy rice cereal
3 teaspoons vanilla

My adaptations (I halved the recipe to create the two different versions):

Corn Chex Craisin & Almond Bar

1/4 c. honey
2 T + 1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 T peanut butter (creamy)
2 T unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C Quick Oats
1 c. corn chex
3 TB craisins
3 TB whole almonds (next time would probably chop them)

Spooner Crumb Craisin Bars


1/4 c. honey
2 T + 1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 T peanut butter (creamy)
2 T unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C Quick Oats
1 C frosted mini spooner crumbs (you know, all the crushed spooners at the bottom of the bag)
3 TB craisins

Evaluation:

Both were very good, but the spooners were way sweet!! but I liked the consistency of them. I think if I were to use the crumbs again I would probably just put in a TB of brown sugar or leave it out completely. I would like to add other things to them as well, but the calorie content is already pretty high. I cut the corn chex version into 9 bars and they were 183 calories! I made the spooner bars smaller and came out with 16, but it is still 92 calories a bar. 

Banana Bread Minute Muffin

Banana Bread Minute Muffin from fitfoodiefind.com

Ingredients:

quick oats
mashed banana
egg white
choc chips or other add-ins

Mix in mug and bake in microwave for 1 min 30 sec.

She claims it tastes like banana bread, but I think the real thing is better. However, for someone who is gluten free it probably will satisfy the craving. I added mini-chocolate chips. In her picture there is more yellow so I am thinking she used the whole egg and not just the white. With the chocolate it is over 200 calories, but it makes for a nice quick snack.