Happy WIAW!
Thanks to Jenn for hosting, as always :).
For whatever reason, this week I was trying way more recipes from other blogs than I was making recipes up. I am always trying out other people’s recipes, of course, but I literally don’t think a single recipe was my own this week! Too funny how that happens.
But that’s great, as I figured I could post my thoughts on the recipes I tried in today’s WIAW!
Breakfast:
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I have been on a major breakfast cookie kick since realizing that I had never gotten around to trying the Fitnessista’s breakfast cookie.
It had been on my Pinterest board for ages and yet I had never actually made it. Well, now I realize what I’ve been missing out on! I made an oatmeal raisin cookie version, stirring in 1 T unsweetened coconut, 2 T raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon to her base. I topped it with 2 T of nonfat Greek yogurt stirred with 4 drops of lemon stevia (that makes an AMAZING lemon-flavoured yogurt, I can’t get over it!).
I posted it on Instagram and to my delight the Fitnessista saw it and even posted it on her blog :).
(PS. I also tried her cookie dough cereal after a couple of you recommended it, and I enjoyed that too, but the breakfast cookie wins in my heart!)
Snack:
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It’s been warm, so I’m sticking with my iced tea now! This is my ‘homemade’ iced passion tea lemonade, a la Starbuckers:
- I bought some iced passion tea bags from Target last time I was over the border, and some of the Vitamin Water Zero lemonade (we don’t get the lemonade flavour here in Canada – whatttt??? I know).
- Brew it with the amount of hot water the box says, but instead of topping it up with cold water, use the lemonade! Refreshing and delish.
I accompanied this with some berries (unpictured) as I went berry picking at the weekend and have tons of fresh delicious berries!
Lunch:
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A huge honkin’ salad (sorry for the slightly blurry pic. I was hungry and get the shakes when my blood sugar is low – seriously!).
Nothing I crave more when the weather is nice! And avocadooooo…galore!
I may have had one or two of Katie’s protein cookies (which I finally made!) afterwards as well…
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Afternoon snack:
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A PB & J sandwich – using low-sodium Better ‘n Peanut Butter and Trader Joe’s organic fruit-sweetened raspberry jam – sooo good!
*NOTE: I usually use organic regular peanut butter in my PB & J sandwich to insert some protein and healthy fats there, but I was all out of it :(. I really recommend not skimping on the regular PB when it comes to a PB & J!
Dinner:
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I tried Dashing Dish’s Loaded Mashed ‘Potato’ Bake (she uses cauliflower instead of potato) and omitted the bacon. Amazing! Loved it. It’s probably supposed to be a side dish but I just had a huge serving and called it dinner – it was SO filling. I was literally stuffed after a big portion of this! Yum.
Sorry I forgot to take a pic of it nicely plated before eating, so I had to take this shot of our leftovers!
Dessert:
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So I was creative here… I made my usual vanilla protein shake (cottage cheese, vanilla protein powder, vanilla extract, ice, almond milk, stevia), and thickened it up really well with some xanthan gum so it could be a smoothie in a bowl (or, in this case, in an ice cream sundae glass!).
Then I used Chocolate Covered Katie’s recipe for healthy cookie dough ice cream and made just the cookie dough portion. I dropped small parts of the cookie dough into my smoothie and enjoyed the most delicious protein smoothie ever – cookie dough protein smoothie, boo yah!
Fitness:
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To provide the ‘fitness’ part of this month’s WIAW theme of “Fun, Food and Fitness”, here’s what I’ve been up to fitness-wise this past week:
I mentioned yesterday that I’m feeling really low-intensity in my fitness right now. So no running (my knee doesn’t like it, still) and not as much time in the gym weight training or doing HIIT. I do some plyometrics and push-ups/tricep dips/sit-ups/squats/lunges at home to keep the muscles working, but mainly I’ve been hitting up Zumba classes and taking lots of long walks outside in the sunshine. I have to say, I’m really loving it. It’s nice to know you can get a move on and feel like you’re doing some good without sweating your butt off!
I’ve been wearing my heart rate monitor and although I’m not logging too much time in the ‘vigorous activity’ mode, the amount of activity and calories burned are totally on par with (and sometimes more than) when I would just do 30-60 minutes of intense exercise per day, so I’m not worried. I’ll wait this low-intensity phase out and enjoy every minute of it!
QUESTIONS:
- Any great recipes you’ve tried out from the blog world lately?
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You and me both are doing the low intensity exercise, and I agree as well, I am enjoying it too! Glad to hear you are as well!
So glad you tried the cookies, I love them 🙂
Happy WIAW love! ❤
I’m really glad you’re doing well on the low-intensity thing! I had one day where I had energy so I busted out a bunch of Tabatas in a row, but for the most part I’m just enjoying walking in the sunshine and taking it easy while still getting some quality movement in :).
Wow, that Loaded “Potato” Bake looks delish! I really aught to make something like that sometime.
I actually haven’t made anything from blogs in such a long time, and I really should considering how many saved recipes I have! It’s rather ridiculous really.
So great looking food and happy WIAW! 😀
I know, I go through phases of coming up with my own recipes and ignoring everything I have pinned to make from other bloggers, and then phases like this where I am lacking recipe creativity and inspiration, so I just whip through my ‘to make’ Pinterest board!
Haha ditto! I’ve just been throwing a lot of random things together lately. I think it’s time to go through my long “to make” lists! The weather is indicating that some nice yummy salads are in order 😉
Salads rock! I can’t wait to see what you come up with as I always want salad inspiration 🙂
Agreed! I’m thinking a salad with alphonso mangoes is in order…and a trip to the garden to see what’s fresh for picking!
The loaded potato bake sounds amazing! I have bookmarked that to try out soon! I have been seriously skimping on the exercise lately. I’m looking forward to getting back into it though. Sometimes I find a good break from the regular routine is all I need to get motivated to get back at it again. I love your picture of (I assume?) the Grouse Grind!
I agree, when you are getting really worn down about the idea of exercising, just taking a break and waiting for your body to WANT it again is a great way to get back in the game. Yes, it’s the Grind – well spotted!
I can’t wait to try CCK’s cookie dough recipe. It looks awesome, as does that cauliflower bake. YUM!
It’s super good – I love the dough pieces mixed in with my smoothie!
Your dinner looks fabulous!!!
Thanks! It was yummayyy
All these great dishes from around the blog world are making me so hungry : )
I know right??
Thanks for all the great recommendations! I have been eyeing that breakfast cookie for while now too, I’ll definitely be making it soon based on your glowing recommendation!
Do, you won’t be sorry! I made an oatmeal raisin version, chocolate chip, cacao nibs…everything!
I love all the blog inspired eats! Sometimes I can’t decide which ones to try because there are so many great ones! I love the Fitnessista’s breakfast cookie! It was actually one of the first blog inspired recipes I ever tried a long time ago!
Ah yes it is an old recipe of Fitnessista’s that I finally got around to making! I’m so mad it took me so long now, it’s amazing!
That dinner of yours looks amazing! I’m thinking that may make it on my menu for next week dinners 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your eats. Hope you have a wonderful day ❤
Thanks Jessie, you too!
Your whole day of eats looks delightful! Loving all the meals you made. Sometimes its nice to take a break from creating the recipes, and using other people’s. Of course Canada doesn’t have the cool flavour of Vitamin water. Isn’t that just super typical.
I know, right?? Canada gets the worst end of the stick!!
Those breakfast cookies sound right up my alley…def need to try them out. Hope you are having a good week!
Thanks Sarah! The breakfast cookies are AMAZING – especially the oatmeal raisin variety I try, I love it – some cinnamon, a tbsp of unsweetened coconut and a tbsp of raisins stirred in too. Sooo good!
i need to try that cookie dough recipe! sounds like such an amazing filling dessert!
It is sooooo good! Seriously. Amazing!
The cookies look wonderful; what a great idea!
Thanks Megan – credit goes to Healthy Diva Eats for those!
I really need to try a breakfast cookie soon. I’ve had the recipe bookmarked for months but haven’t gotten around to making one, for some reason. They look and sound delicious!
I love that you’re focusing on lower-intensity exercise! It’s so true- you can definitely get plenty of exercise without forcing yourself to ‘sweat your butt off’ every day. I’ve been working on doing the same thing…I used to do intense workouts 5-6 days a week, but it was obviously WAY too much. So I’ve cut back to 2 or 3 and I take walks/do yoga/etc. on the other days. My body couldn’t be happier!
I think it’s the way to go – we’re already so challenged by our crazy day-to-day life that if we push ourselves through high-intensity fitness all the time too we can end up burning out! So glad you found a balance that works for you. And yes, try the breakfast cookie! I can’t believe I waited so long! It’s raw, vegan and so good for you yet completely delicious!
I’m really keen to try that cauliflower mash recipe. I’m sure I can persuade my other half to give it a go if there’s cheese on it 🙂
Do it! I don’t have a food processor so had to mash it by hand and be warned, it does have a cauliflower texture to it still. My mom hates cauliflower and couldn’t eat this for that reason. However if you have a food processor it should become like fluffy mashed potatoes!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and plans for low-intensity exercises Anna! I am still working on getting MORE to that point… meaning there are some days that I am much better at tolerating the low-intensity stuff (as I am doing them too to get my period back) and then other days I want to just run, sweat, interval work, etc. But I know that is not what I need right now at all, so it helps to know others are with me too 🙂
And yes, breakfast cookies are just so great to me, they were one of the first recipes I have tried from the blog world!
I just think it’s best to go with what our gut wants. I was having a couple of weeks of trying to do my usual HIIT and high-intensity workouts and pulling my sluggish body through it. It got to the point where my mind was really dreading workouts and I never want to get to that point, so I just decided to get the same healthy benefits but in a much slower, steadier way, which coincided nicely with warmer weather. So long walks outside and some yoga are great for me right now! But when I have a burst of energy I’ll bust out some Tabatas and be grateful for the opportunity! Thanks for sharing Tessa; I think just listen to what you really want and I hope that your health issues will clear up – keeping my fingers crossed!
These look delicious! I love that you tried things out and shared them! I have a list of recipes to try from other bloggers- yours included! A post would be a great way for me to finally make them. That protein milkshake looks SO good! Did it really taste like cookie dough? I’ve always been intrested in that recipe, but haven’t tried it yet. Outside workouts are so great! That looks like a beautiful place to hike.
This one really does! It’s because she uses (or suggests you can use, and I did!) a mix of xylitol and coconut sugar. Xylitol really blends in to sweeten it while the coconut sugar gives it that brown sugar-type sweetness, flavour and crunch!
WOW so much for me to try Anna 😉 Seriously though! I know the breakfast cookie is amazing as I have tried it before 🙂 It actually tastes like a cookie!!!!! I saw her post your picture on her blog 😉 I got so excited 😉 That potato casserole looks really tasty too! 😀 So does your smoothie! I have never used gums before to thicken, but I own them! How much do you need to add to thicken?? I am always so nervous hahaha
Use 1/8 tsp xanthan gum to start and 1/4 tsp guar gum. Always do twice as much guar to xanthan – that’s my general rule. If it’s a lotta smoothie and you need more do the same amount again. I have never needed more than 1/4 tsp xanthan and 1/2 tsp a guar for one smoothie. Hope that helps! Thanks love x
Mmmm that breakfast cookie and dessert look yum yum yummay!
Thank you, they are!