I think it’s a great way to start the day on the right foot, and if you have trouble fitting in fruits and veggies – this could do the trick!

My power smoothie

What am I making my smoothies with??

This week it’s been:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice
handful of frozen mango chunks
2 kiwi
1/2 cup fresh cranberries (which I keep in the freezer)
1 leaf of kale (too much will make the smoothie taste gross)
1 carrot
squeeze of honey
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon flax seeds

I just put everything in my blender and blend until it’s super smooth.

It’s about 300 calories, I bring it to work and sip on it and it’s been keeping me full until lunchtime – which is nice!

Also, I have a site to share www.thislunchrox.com. She has great ideas and recipes!

One of which is no bake granola bars. I’ve made them before, but they NEVER stay together and end up just being granola. This takes no time to make and is great for your lunch or your kids lunch!

Ingredients

Granola Bars (based on a recipe from This Lunch Rox!)

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup oats
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons other dry ingredients (like flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, protein powder, etc)
(I used 1 tablespoon of chia seeds and 1 tablespoon of flax seeds)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate and peanut butter

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined.

I used an 8×8 pan, and just pressed the mixture into that dish. Refrigerate 10 minutes of until set.

These were delicious and it’s nice to know all the ingredients that are in there vs. buying a granola bar that is store bought – and it’s cheap too!

Not the best picture - but you get the idea!

Do you have a recipe for granola bars you like? What’s your favorite things to put in a smoothie??

I use wheat germ pretty often in my cooking/baking. What is wheat germ? The wheat germ is the nutritional heart of the wheat berry. You can use wheat germ to baked goods, use as a filler for meat loaves and balls, or to coat cookies, rolls, and breads, top a casserole, replace breadcrumbs- the uses are numerous. Just use your imagination! Because the natural oils are retained in wheat germ, refrigerate it to maintain freshness and nutrition. (or I freeze mine).

This is the kind I buy:

Nutrients Behind the Health Benefits of Wheat Germ
The nutrients which are found in the germ of wheat are as follows:

Fiber
Iron
Magnesium
Manganese
Protein
Omega-3 fatty acids
Phosphorus
Potassium
Selenium
Vitamin E
Zinc
Complex Carbohydrates
B Vitamins such as folate, Niacin, Thiamine and Vitamin B6
Calcium

So I was looking for other ways to add it to my diet when I came across a recipe for wheat germ tea. Once I steeped the wheat germ and strained it, the color was so light it looked like lemonade, so I turned the “tea” into lemonade! You add the germ to boiling water and let steep for 25 minutes, strain add the lemon and sweetener (optional) and drink.

Serves 1

2 cups water
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1/2 fresh lemon
sugar, honey, agave nectar to taste

In a pot add the water and wheat germ and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 25-30 minutes.

Strain the flavored water into a glass with lots of ice and enjoy.

This was so refreshing. I will definitely make this again, but make a whole pitcher next time so it’s always ready in my fridge.

Do you use wheat germ as part of your diet?

What was it? A chocolate milkshake! There is an icecream shop around the corner from my office. It was 3:00 p.m. Should I or shouldn’t I? I went on line because they have the nutritional information…. not joking it’s 1,000 calories! I still thought about it too. Then I thought, I wonder how many calories the kid size milkshake is? That was 500 calories…still thought about it.

I started to justify I had eaten great all day, I was going to walk home from work (which I’m pretty sure walking 1 1/2 miles will NOT burn 1,000 calories!)

I needed a plan – what could I do to take my mind of it – I had to have something in my stash at work that would save me. And this is what I found:

Oh yeah! My 25 calorie hot chocolate. I decided to add that to some coffee, add some ice, and make my own iced coffee.

Phew! I drank it, my craving for the milkshake – gone! Crisis averted So happy I didn’t cave!!! And I had a great walk home too!

*******

Now my fellow foodies are about to become super jealous of me. Guess what I picked up from a neighbor in my town last night?

Score!! Look at all those Bon Appetit’s and Food & Wine magazines!! I am part of a MOM mail e-mail list that hundreds of people are on in my town. You can post things if you need something, are giving something away, need to borrow, sell, need a referral, looking for babysitting, etc…

The e-mail I got yesterday included this Mom who was giving away old issues (some are 2006, 2007, 2008) of cooking magazines. I was lucky to be the first one to respond, so I went right after work to her house and picked them up! You may remember a few months ago I got tons of vegetarian times, Rachel Ray, and Cooking light magazines, so I pretty much won’t need to buy another magazine for a long time!

Can’t wait to try some new stuff!

Have a great day!

It’s birthday breakfast at my office today. I send out an e-mail and people volunteer to bring something in, and we celebrate June birthdays/anniversary’s.

I was bragging to a couple of my co-workers about my cinnamon muffins I made yesterday, so I woke up early this morning to make a double batch to bring in.

As they were baking I opened the oven and something didn’t seem right. They were totally flat, hardly rising at all. I had thrown together the ingredients by memory. I was going over what I added in my head….and then it hit me, I forgot the baking powder and salt!

When they had cooled, I tasted one. Totally dry, not yummy, I couldn’t bring them to work!

So, I decided to run to Caribou Coffee and pick up some banana bread slices and lemon poppy seed bread slices to make up for not bringing my muffins.

One thing that is strange about me is I have only had 1 cup of coffee in my life. I tried it last fall. I still didn’t like it. My sister has recommended latte’s or other flavored coffees to try, but I still haven’t done it. Well, today was the day! I asked for a NorthernLite Vanilla Cooler. I watched the guy fill the blender with ice, add the coffee, I asked for no whipped cream. I tasted it, I LOVED IT!

Now, I picked the Lite, because to me that means low in calories. After I had pretty much finished off the medium drink, I go to Caribou’s web site and low and behold…..575 calories!!! What the?? It was too late though, I only had a few sips left…SO, note to myself, if you want to try some fancy coffee drink, look it up first, or get some tea for 0 calories!!!

Even on their site, the description of this drink is:

Our Northern Lite Vanilla Cooler joins rich coffee with subtle vanilla for a sweet treat without the calories.

Umm..I’m pretty sure almost 600 calories is some calories! When I wasn’t looking did he put candy in there??

On a different note:

I’ve had a number of people e-mail me about where to get cinnamon chips. I bought mine from a bakery going out of business. But I found a few places on line you can order them from.

Prepared Pantry

King Arthur Flour

Frontier Natural Products Co-op (certified organic cinnamon chips!

So, now I should probably walk at lunch to burn off the calories from my breakfast!!