Rice Chex Granola

Oh boy this is yummy. I love how crunchy and delicate rice chex is, now add that yumminess to granola and it's SUPER YUM.

Rice Chex Granola
(I didn't use exact measurements, it's kinda hard to mess this one up. Feel free to tweak this recipe to your liking)

1 tsp almond butter (I used Raw Maple Almond Butter)
1 TB raw natural honey
1 tsp agave nectar-amber
1 tsp coconut oil
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup slivered almonds
2 TB unsweetened coconuts
3/4 cup rice chex
shakes of cinnamon
sprinkle of salt

Preheat oven to 325.
Warm the almond butter, coconut oil, honey and agave in the microwave just until it's liquid-y. Then add oats and mix well. Then add nuts, cinnamon and coconut flakes, then rice chex. Mix well. Place on parchment paper or greased baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Make sure not to burn it. Let it cool completely before breaking it into pieces to eat.

1/3 cup equals to around 100 calories. It's so delicious on it's own, with greek yogurt, in a bowl of cereal, or crumbles on top of an acai bowl!

Coconut Banana Bread

Every week we usually buy a whole bunch of bananas for the week. Oddly enough, neither Brian or I actually eat bananas fresh. I usually wait until they begin to have little brown spots on them, then I peel them, cut them into thirds, and freeze them. I use these frozen banana bits for my smoothies, acai bowls and protein shakes. They always make everything so creamy.

If you haven't had banana soft freeze, you are missing out!! All you do is throw your frozen bananas into a blender or food processor and blend it until it is creamy like soft serve yogurt. You can add peanut butter, chocolate powder, vanilla, anything your heart desires.

I haven't made banana bread for a while, so I knew that these little brown babies will be destined to be in loaf form. Last time I made banana bread it came out super rich and decadent. Unfortunately I never bookmarked the recipe- all I remember was it had greek yogurt in it. While I was perusing the world wide web, I found a recipe that I decided to tweek a little make it with the ingredients I had.

Healthy Coconut Banana Bread
adapted from Monique of Ambitious Kitchen

1 3/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup + 3 TB sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 TB olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Baking Blend (or 1/2 cup brown sugar)
3 egg whites
1/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
2 TB coconut milk (or almond milk, soy milk, or regular milk)
2 TB of pineapple juice (or OJ or grapefruit)
Cinnamon

Preheat 350.
Mix the first three ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix the bananas, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, then add oil.
Mix the dry with the wet ingredients.
Then add the yogurt, coconut milk and juice.
Fold in 1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

Grease a 9x5 pan and pour in batter. Sprinkle the remaining 3 TB of coconut flakes on top. Then lightly sprinkle cinnamon evenly on top. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

This bread tasted better after a night in the fridge. I think the bananas needed time to really mesh with the coconut. Brian said this is a keeper. It was good, but not my ABSOLUTE favorite I have ever had. I think next time I will try using riper bananas, and pre toasting the coconut before putting it in the bread. Sorry for the lack of picture, I am just too freaking lazy.

EDIT: COCONUT BANANA BREAD FRENCH TOAST!! I always hate the ends of the banana bread because they are always drier and get cooked more thn the soft middle pieces. So one night I decided to make french toast with them. DELICIOUS. You can make french toast with other pieces too if you leave them out over night to get a little stale. I used egg, coconut milk, cinnamon and stevia and dredged the banana bread pieces in them. It was so decadent, yet healthy!

DOMS & Toasted Coconut Chocolate Cookies

Oh my goodness. I am so sore form yesterdays' workout that I can barely move my legs. I'm currently walking around town like a cowboy from the wild wild west. Days like this makes me wish that girls can pee standing up.

I went super easy at the gym today and did chest and triceps with a 30 minute walk tagged at the end.

I'm currently baking these cookies and the house smells AMAZING. The warm nutty aroma of toasted coconut has to be one of my favorite smells.I had to leave them in for a couple mintes longer than suggested (I think my oven may need to be recalibrated). They came out oh-so-soft and buttery. I really like these little guys. The batter was supposed to make 24.. well I made 15 small/normal sized cookies. I guess they were meant to be TINY. No wonder they're 88 calories.

Earlier today I began the pierogi making process by making the fillings. I decided on the traditional potato/onion/cheese and a saukeraut/cornedbeef/potato. The second was something that I wanted to try..

For dinner I had the same thing as I had yesterday:

 I usually cook a big meal, and eat the leftovers for three days in a row. Fast and easy, and less dishes during the week. I HATE doing dishes.

Rut & Favorite Cookie Recipes

I feel like I'm stuck in a rut. I haven't missed a workout since January 1st. Now I am absolutely sick of the gym. I need some more spice in my life- like Body Pump, TRX, yoga.. but these classes aren't available here in WV. So I guess I will still stick to my daily routine of 10 minute warm up, hour of weights, and 30 minutes of cardio. BORE.

I found out yesterday that I won a free personal training session from my gym. Jonda was my trainer today, and we had a leg day planned out for us. I wanted to focus on form, because half the time I feel like I am doing squats and deadlifts wrong. She had me do squats with my feet really close together and going all the way down to the floor. I also did lunges, sumo squats, leg press, dumbbell deadlifts, step ups, single leg squats and reverse crunches. It was a killer workout. I wish I could afford her personal training sessions.

For dinner I had roasted broccoli slaw, portobello mushrooms, bell peppers, cabbage, black beans, zuchinni and salsa chicken from Pip & Ebby. I added salsa and Tapatio on top as a dressing. I love this crockpot chicken recipe, it's always on regular rotation at our house. My bf has it in a burrito or in tacos. The meat always comes out juicy and tender.

Tomorrow I plan on either making cookies or pierogis.
Here are some cookie recipes I've tried and liked:

HTP's Coconut Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies: I had to make these for 19 minutes for them to hold together. My first batch was so soft that they fell apart in your hands.

Sparkling Ink's Glazed Maple Cookies: Make sure to use real maple syrup. These cookies are so delicious, but an absolute mess to clean up.

Smitten Kitchen's Crisp Salted Oatmeal Cookies: These are light, crispy, sweet & salty. I LOVED these. They definitely taste better fresh. After a while they get soft and loose that lovely delicate crispiness.

I'm watching Cold Mountain as I type this, and it's pretty cool to know that I live on the grounds where the civil war took place. I wonder where all the Asians were at this period of time. You never real hear about them. Anyways, I hope everyone has a beautiful summer night, and thanks for checking in :)

Cinnamon Rolls and Kale Salad

I spent the entire day working on these delicious beauties:
Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting from the Pioneer Woman. I halved the recipe since the original quantity is for 50 people. They came out delicious. I let them rise in the fridge for 4 hours which made them easier to work with. I made them for my bf's co-worker's birthday tomorrow. I'll take any excuse to bake. They were sweet, gooey, soft and PERFECT. I'm freezing the leftovers so that we can have cinnamon rolls on weekend mornings without having to do all the work.

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

For dinner, I had smoked salmon, dry-rubbed ribs, and a Karena's colorful kale salad. I massaged the kale to make sure that the dressing soaked into the leaves, and let it marinate for 6 hours. It was SO GOOD! Creaminess from the feta, nuttiness from the pine nuts, sweetness from the cranberries, and plenty of fresh crunch. I just adore those Tone It Up girls. I added cucumbers, almonds and bell peppers to this recipe, and doubled the kale.

Here is the recipe: http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Karena-s-Kale-Salad-and-Three-Bean-Side-Dish-Recipes-5177

Today's workout consisted of biceps, triceps, abs and cardio from Live Fit Day 32. My poor triceps hate me. I was watching Greys on the treadmill at the gym, and I started crying when I saw O'Malley. I am a complete psycho. I just hate when characters I like die, for example: 007, Mufasa, the kid from Alpha Dog, Marley (the dog, but I guess the singer too?.. ) I'm just a big cry baby. I need to suck it up if I'm ever going to be a nurse.