Please check out their website at www.maranatha.com. Their company was founded in Oregon in 1982 and their products are made in small batches. They are gluten free, low sodium, cholesterol free, high in protein, rich in monounsaturated fat (the good kind of fat) and are vegan AND it tastes great too! So you can’t beat that! They were kind enough to send me some recipes that I can share as well as THEIR photos.

Savory Almond Butter Dip

Makes about 1/3 cup – Serves one

· 1 Tbsp. MaraNatha No Stir Almond Butter, Creamy

· 3 Tbsp. Organic or natural low fat mayonnaise

· 2 Tbsp. Organic or natural low fat sour cream

· 1 tsp. Fresh lime juice

· 1/8 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

· 1/2 tsp. Onion powder

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Use as a dip for vegetables such as celery, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers.

This dip can also be used as a sauce over steamed vegetables – great with asparagus or broccoli.

I'm bananas for almond butter smoothie!

Serves one

· 2 Tbsp. MaraNatha No Stir Almond Butter, Creamy

· 1 Medium banana

· 1/4 cup Organic or natural nonfat soymilk

· 2 Tbsp. Organic or natural nonfat vanilla yogurt

· 1 cup Crushed ice

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

For an indulgent treat add any of the following:

2 Tbsp. Chocolate syrup
1 Tbsp. Chocolate chips

Nutrition information: 320 Calories, 10g Protein, 41g Total Carbohydrates, 7g Fiber, 22g Sugars

Cilantro Chicken wraps with creamy almond butter sauce

Makes about 1 cup sauce – Serves 4

· 4 Multigrain tortillas

· 12 oz. Broiled chicken breast strips

· 2 to 3 Slices, red onion

· Packaged shredded carrots

· Cilantro leaves

· Lettuce leaves

Sauce:

· 1 Tbsp. MaraNatha No Stir Almond Butter, Creamy

· 1/2 cup Organic or natural light mayonnaise

· 1/4 cup Organic or natural light sour cream

· 1 tsp. Fresh grated ginger

· 1/2 tsp. Garlic powder

· 2 tsp. Sesame oil

· 1 1/2 tsp. Rice vinegar

· 2 Tbsp. Cilantro, finely chopped

Place all ingredients in a medium size bowl. Whisk until smooth.

Place large tortilla on flat surface and cover with green leaf lettuce. Spread 2 – 3 tablespoons sauce over lettuce. Place grilled chicken breast, shredded carrots, red onion slices (to taste), and 8 to 10 cilantro leaves. Fold in sides of tortilla and roll

Don’t these recipes look fantastic? I received two free jars of the almond butter and regular natural peanut butters and they are both wonderful. You need to refrigerate them after opening and kind of stir them up before each use.

Please visit this site to get coupons for this product AND to enter a sweepstake to win a years supply of nut butters!

Have any of you tried this product???

Italian chicken pasta bake

Ingredients
1 cup pastina pasta (I used elbow macaroni)
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup cubed chicken breast (1-inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced onion (about 1/2 a small onion, which I pureed with the canned tomatoes)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta into a large mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to combine, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. Put the chicken mixture into the bowl with the cooked pasta. Add the canned tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Place the mixture in a an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish sprayed with Pam cooking spray. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Holy cow it was so good! It was hard for me not to have seconds, but now I have some leftover for lunch today!

AND, the calories aren’t that bad either, this recipe makes 4 servings, so each serving is:

Calories for Italian baked chicken

What’s you favorite thing to make with chicken??

Cinnamon muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup oats (not instant)
1 cup skim milk
1/5 block of silken tofu (91 grams)
1/3 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 TB Canola Oil
4 Tablespoons chocolate chips

Directions:

In a small bowl, add the oats and cover with the milk and let stand 10 minutes.

In a mixer add the tofu, the brown sugar and egg and mix until smooth. Add the oats soaked in the milk and the rest of the ingredients.

I used a Jumbo Muffin Tin (found at Target or Walmart).

Mix together some sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake for about 18-20 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick comes out clean.

And, the difference vs. buying a huge muffin at the bakery?? Here’s the nutritional info:

I love when lightened up versions turn out great!

Thanks again for your honesty and answering my questions!

Here is Tricia before:

And Tricia after!!! What a difference!! You don’t even look like the same person!

1. What was your AHA moment when you knew you had to take charge of your weight/health?

I don’t have one specific moment. It was several things all added together that finally made me say, “Its now or never”. I was miserable with myself, and those feelings led me to cut off my friends and family. I knew what I was doing, but didn’t know how to stop it. It also became apparent that I was no longer going to be able to keep up with my toddler. I was simply too out of shape. I knew he deserved a mother who was healthy and happy. And finally I went to the doctor, got on the scale and saw 278. Then he took my blood pressure and told me I needed medication. I was only 26. I didn’t want to start on medications at such a young age so I asked the doctor to give me 3 months to lower my blood pressure through weight loss. I was determined to start taking care of myself and it worked! Here I am just over a year later and I weigh 155 pounds (I’m 5′8″). The doctor may have doubted me, but I succeeded.

2. How long did it take you to lose the weight?

My initial goal was to lose 100 pounds. I did that at the 8 month, 3 week mark. I was amazed how quickly it came off. I lost an additional 20 pounds over the following few months bringing me to 120 pounds at my 1 year anniversary mark in January. Since then a few more pounds have come off, but I’m no longer focusing on losing weight. Instead I am simply focusing on living healthy.

3. What kind of obstacles did you have along the way, did you ever want to quit??

This is probably going to sound unbelievable, but I would have to say that losing the weight wasn’t the hard part. Making the initial decision to DO IT was the hard part, after that it was simple. The only obstacle I truly faced was that initial decision. I had to love myself enough to take those first steps. January 5, 2009 is what I refer to as “the day I saved my life”. I knew each step was bringing me one step closer to a new “healthy me”.

I know people WANT to hear that it was hard, that I struggled, that I “fell off the wagon”. That may make me more relatable, but it wouldn’t be true. No, I never wanted to quit. Looking back there’s not a single thing I would change about how I ate or worked out along the way. There was no wasted time or mistakes. Sure I would occasionally eat bad but those times were few and quite frankly that’s just part of life. I think what has made me so successful is that I never looked at an overindulgence as a mistake. I just moved on from there and looked at the next meal as an opportunity to eat right. And that’s what counts, moving on. Because in the large scale of things a few overindulgence’s mean nothing.

4. What kind of program did you follow, or did you do your own thing?

Throughout the years I tried everything under the sun to lose weight. This time had to be different. I wasn’t going to pay someone else to do the work for me. I knew how to lose weight all along, but this was the first time I had the strength to actually do it. So when people ask me how to lose weight I always answer, ” Eat less and move more.” Obviously that’s the simplified version of what I did, but it works. I try to eat whole grains, fresh veggies, fruits and occasionally fish. But I believe most foods are ok in moderation so along the way if I wanted pizza I would have it but in an appropriate portion.

5. What did you used to eat when you were at your heaviest, what was a typical day of eating?

Goodness, this is pretty embarrassing. I’d love to just answer, “Large quantities of bad food.” But I’m guessing everyone wants to hear gory details so I’ll play along. With the exception of fish, I don’t eat meat so my diet consisted mainly of carbs. Breakfast was usually 4 pieces of buttered toast with a huge bowl of cereal. Lunch would be a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, snacks throughout the day would be whatever junk food was in the cabinet. Dinner was often a box of Pasta Roni and several pieces of Texas Toast. And I baked often so that meant lots of cake and cookies. Its no wonder I was obese.

6. What kinds of things do you eat now? What’s a typical day like, do you stay at a certain calorie range?

When I first started losing weight I was eating between 1200-1500 calories a day depending on how much I was working out. Once I started running long distances I had to add extra healthy calories. Now I eat fruit and a whole wheat bagel with laughing cow cheese for breakfast, snack on nuts and fruits throughout the day, lunch may be a black bean burger with steamed veggies, dinner is grilled shrimp, a baked sweet potato and baked squash and zucchini. But like I mentioned before, there are days when I may want pizza. And I’ll have it, but just one serving and I balance the rest of the day around that.

7. Did you exercise during your weight loss? Did you exercise right away, or wait until you lost some weight to get started?

I started exercising right away. I made a deal with myself to work out and eat right for 21 days straight. I was hoping it would make it a “habit” and it did! I started out by having a hard time walking a mile but I just kept going. Within the first three weeks my fitness level had increased to the point that I was able to walk 6-10 miles every single day. Other than walking I used the elliptical, played tennis and did workout dvds. Eventually the walking turned into running and that is now my main form of exercise.

8. What are some tips you’ve learned along the way?

I think setting mini-goals for yourself is important. Look at each meal as an opportunity to eat healthy. Taking it one meal at a time makes it much more manageable. The same thing goes for working out. Just take it one day at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

If you slip up and overindulge don’t beat yourself up about it. Too often we get so down on ourselves that we feel like that one mistake negates all the healthy things we have done. That leads to people wanting to quit. Instead just use the next meal as a chance to eat right.

And finally I would say that one “tip” I still use is to get up and brush my teeth immediately after each meal. Having fresh breath keeps me from wanting to snack in the evenings.

Please visit her site often!!!! Here is the link below:
–

Tricia’s blog

TO VIEW MY OTHER SUCCESS STORIES OF DIANE, KEITH, JEN AND SHELLEY, CLICK ON THE TAB AT THE TOP OF MY PAGE THAT SAYS “WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS STORIES”

I had to share my yummy stir fry! I think I had at least 10 veggies in there. Carrots, celery, water chestnuts, cauliflower, purple cauliflower, edamame, baby bok choy, red onion, etc… It was so good!

The purple cauliflower tastes exactly like the regular kind, but kind of makes your food look prettier!

After reading Ally’s post yesterday about her flourless peanut butter and coconut cookies, I made some for my kids lunches, and they loved them! Thanks for the recipe Ally!

And, at the store last night I found a new bagel!! Thomas’s Bagel Thins! 110 calories and 5 grams of fiber. I bought them at Jewel and they were buy one get one free and each bag has 8 bagels in it, so 16 bagels for $3.99 sounded like a good deal to me. Use them to make your own breakfast sandwich or for your favorite lunch meat!

Have a great day everyone!

Come back tomorrow, I will be profiling another weight loss success story. You’ll meet Tricia who lost 122 pounds!!!!!