Spinning, Snacking, Fondue, Products & Love :)

Today started really well and really early! My alarm went off at 5:15 AM and I popped up, got ready and drove to spin class. It helped a little bit that Dea (my dog) started going crazy about 4:30 when the rain, lightning and thunder started rolling in so by the time my alarm went off I had pretty much already snoozed all I needed to. Spin class was really good, I really liked the instructor! Too bad she's leaving for the summer though to go to the Carolinas (I'm a bit jealous since I want to go to Charleston so badly!), but I'm sure the next instructor will be just as good. Then I just did some weights and drove home to be able to eat, shower and make it to my appointment by 9:30.

Breakfast was a little broken up. I had a banana when I woke up before spin, then I had my 3 egg whites with cumin and tomato as well as a pear, watermelon and pineapple afterwards. Then I followed that up about an hour later with some trail mix (I must have worked out hard because I kept getting hungry!). For lunch I cut up some left over steak that my Dad made the other night and made a steak sandwich and had that with some steamed cauliflower with chili powder on top. Then I had half of a So Delicious Coconut milk Neopolitan "ice cream" sandwich for dessert! (Listed below on the products I love.) My mom and I then went to see Letters to Juliet, which was really good:) A little corny at the end, but I'm always a sucker when it comes to a love story. After the movie we went and ran a couple of errands before coming home to get ready and go the Melting Pot with my dad. We had this thing called a Groupon where we paid $25 to get $50 off of our bill (go to Groupon.com to look and see if they have them for your city..unfortunately they don't have them for Lubbock). Melting Pot is this fondue restaurant and I was suprised when I could actually eat some of it! The appetizer was cheese fondue, so that was obviously a no go. Then the salad was lettuce wraps which I absolutely LOVED. I ate all three of mine and my Dad only ate one of his so he gave me his other two. Plus most of one my Mom didn't finish (yes, they were THAT good). Then the main course was all sorts of sea food (lobster, ahi tuna, kiwi lime shrimp) and other stuff like veggies, veggie dumplings, chicken and pork that you put on little skewers and cooked in this broth that had things like orange juice, minced garlic, cilantro and lime juice in it. Dessert was then a chocolate fondue (my parents opted for the banana's foster fondue) with dippers like strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, brownies, pound cake, marshmallows covered in vanilla or chocolate cookie crumbs, and rice krispy treats. I sneaked a few rice krispy treat bites, strawberries and a marshmallow:) It was a pretty good dinner! Though a little overpriced I think..but I'm glad we went:) And I'm really glad we had the Groupon. So now it's time to wind down and fall asleep, I'm a bit tired from getting up so early. But first, I have below a list of products (some with pictures) that I absolutely LOVE.

PRODUCTS I LOVE:

Almond butter. You can buy MANY different kinds. My favorite is of course the most expensive. It is Woodstock Farms organic raw almond butter. At Market Street in Lubbock or Dallas it runs about $18.99 a jar which is pretty steep on a college (or any in my opinion) budget. So, you can either go for a different brand, opt for the not raw, grind your own if your grocery store has a place to do that, or make your own (recipe below). I like to make my own version of the PB&J that my friend Kimi showed to me. You toast your break to bring out the dextrose and make the sandwich naturally more sweet without adding anything to it. Then you put on your almond butter and slice either grapes or strawberries to use instead of the jam. Ta-Da! I think it's even more delicious because it doesn't have that superficial, too sweet taste that you get from jellies in a jar.

Recipe for Raw Almond Butter:

Ingredients: 1 cup raw almonds

Directions: Place 1-2 cups of raw almonds into food processor. Process for about 15 minutes making sure to scrape sides frequently. 2 cups of almonds yields about 1 1/2 cup of almond butter so 1 cup of almonds yields about 3/4 cup.

Dark chocolate (Chocolate Dreams) peanut butter. I love this stuff. It's like a dessert. I put it on bananas or on toasted bread when I need something sweet. It doesn't have any lactose in it, just cocoa powder. You can get it here online at http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/ or hopefully your grocery store carries it. I know places like Market Street, Sun Harvest, and Central Market all carry it.

These are the "ice cream" sandwiches I mentioned earlier. They're delicious! They have only 100 calories and are made with coconut milk so you don't get any soy, or lactose in here. The only come in the banana split flavor, but I think they're great. I often cut mine in half, giving me the perfect amount of sweet at even less calories. I also love coconut ice cream from the same So Delicious (made by Turtle Mountain) brand but it is called "Purely Decadent". My favorite flavor is the coconut flavor with the coconut milk. It's even MORE amazing when you grill pineapple and have that with it as well. Hope you enjoy these little treats:)

Honey. Okay, so organic honey takes a little getting used to. I bought it expecting no difference. Do not do that. You probably won't like it if you do. I didn't, but I didn't want to buy more honey either because I had this perfectly good, different tasting honey sitting at home in my pantry. Let me warn you a little bit before you go out and buy some. First of all, it's darker and it has a sharper taste to it. But, once I got used to it, I liked the "not-so-sweet" while still being honey-sweet taste to it. It's worth a try, but it's a little more expensive. This is the Full Circle Organic Honey. I love to put honey on almonds. It's definitely my favorite indulgence. It's even better with a banana, smushed or not:) Or if you just put it on toast, that's good too. I really just like honey on almost everything. I especially love it in home made salad dressings (I'll post recipes for some of those later on.)

Frozen pizzas. I also love these frozen dairy-free pizzas by Amy's below. My favorite is the roasted vegetable. You could also make something similar at home, but these are easy and ready to pop into the oven.

Cereals & oatmeal. Another thing I'm crazy for is Bob's Mill anything. I love the oatmeal oats, I love the steel cut oats, I love the flours, I love it all. I also love Puffin's peanut butter cereal. It tastes so much like Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs you wouldn't even believe it. And it's healthy for you! It's wheat-free because it is made from corn. I also am a huge fan of the Kashi instant oatmeals as well as the Full Circle instant oatmeals.

Hummus. Huge fan of the Sabra Artichoke & Spinich hummus as well as the Roasted Pine Nut flavor. So good with cut cucumbers, carrots or as a sandwich spread!

Bread. I love this kind. I've tried many different kinds, even the little 100 calorie bun things they have out now. I've also tried the Ezekiel breads, but this one stands as my favorite. It's a little more sweet which is something I have found I like about it. However, if you do get Ezekiel bread, I highly recommend the cinnamon raisin (even though it's not really a sandwich or every day kind of bread). On the flip side, I highly advise you to not try the low sodium kind from Ezekiel if you can avoid it. I found it had almost no flavor. Why would you want to waste the calories on something bland and tasteless?

Granola bars. As we all know, they're great for being on the run whether it be a workout, work, or class. My absolute favorite are the Kashi Dark Chocolate & Cherry (not pictured here) But I'm also a big fan of all of their granola bars. These here are Peanut Butter, Honey Almond Flax, and Trail Mix. All of those three have 150 calories while the Be Kind bar has 170 and the LARA Banana Nut has 210 calories. I love them all, so take your pick! :)

Squash. I love spaghetti squash. I've tried it before but my Mom re-introduced it to me this week and I am crazy about it. Whether it's alone or with spaghetti sauce, it is delicious. I also love summer squash either grilled or baked in the oven for about 12 minutes on 350 with a little olive oil and sea salt. Another favorite of mine is butternut squash. I buy this frozen and organic so it's easy to pop in the microwave and in 3 minutes it's done. With this I like to put some coconut milk on it, mash it up (in a cup) and add some cinnamon. It makes a really good comfort "soup". If you like vanilla or light vanilla soy milk, it is even better with that.

Tortilla or corn chips. I'm a huge fan of the Guiltless Gourmet Black Bean (as well as Blue Corn) chips. They're baked and not fried and so full of flavor! I also like the Tweeds Flaxseed chips but they have a more nutty flavor. Whichever way, they both are lower in calories and sodium than most other types and taste really good. It just depends what you're looking for in your chip:)

Have a good night!