06/27/12

peanut butter coconut no bake oat bars

Thank you everyone who chimmed in on yesterday’s pumping and milk supply talk! All the great tips, advice and hearing how it went for other mamas was appreciated.

One thing that’s surprised me since having a baby is the amount of TV I’ve been watching. It’s crazy since I used to never watch TV on my own, mainly just in the evenings with Jacob.

Now, whenever I’m upstairs nursing Hunter, the TV is on. I’m kind of embarrassed by the amount of Say Yes to the Dress episodes I’ve watched…

Before having a baby I’d rarely lounge around. I love being productive. Having a baby made me take a step back and re-prioritize what I do. It’s not that I don’t like being productive anymore, I just have to squeeze it in, and decide when it’s better to do something, or just relax and recuperate. Learning to take naps has been a challenge at times, but I’m working at it.

Since I went no where yesterday and Hunter napped pretty well, I got to do both. A long nap + TV time, and some good old time in the kitchen.

I didn’t wait until Hunter went down for his nap to get busy in the kitchen. He was just loving the bouncy chair (finally!). He just watched the elephant (not the rhino one bit) the entire time as the music played.

I made a new version of an old favorite yesterday – no bakes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I love no bake cookies! I don’t know why, but they tempt me so much every time. Maybe it’s the usual combo of peanut butter and chocolate?

While these bars have peanut butter, there’s no chocolate to be found. Instead I swapped in coconut and cinnamon. Because I just love cinnamon.

Having a baby around has made me really enjoy easy to grab snacks. Once these are made they hang out in the fridge until I’m ready to enjoy them. With one hand full with a baby, these are the perfect grab and go snack.

Peanut Butter Coconut No Bake Oat Bars
Makes 8

Ingredients

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup large unsweetened coconut flakes

2 tsp cinnamon

Direction

In a small pot over medium heat add the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil and vanilla. Heat until everything is melted together, then stir in the remaining ingredients.

On a parchment or wax paper shape the oat mixture into 8 equal squares.

Store in the fridge.

Do you have a favorite easy grab n go snack you like to make?

Heather

05/24/12

sweet n salty olive oil granola

Good morning!

Sleeping in until 6:30am this morning was glorious. Yup that sure is sleeping in for me. No work for 5 more days! My thoughts on twitter last night about that…

I’m hoping Hunter knows how to listen to his mama. I actually had a dream about what he looked like last night. Brown eyes, brown hair, super sleepy looking and just adorable.

I’m loving all the guesses in yesterday’s post to how big he’ll be. Here are some of them so far:

Erica guesses 7 lbs 6 oz

Emily thinks he’ll be 8 1/2 lbs

Maryea is guessing 7 lbs 7 oz

Jentry is going for 7 lbs 3 oz

I’ve been thinking between 6-7 pounds, so my official guess is 6 lbs 10 oz… but we shall see! It’s so much fun thinking about that kind of stuff. All the unknowns of this exciting adventure we’re about to embark on.

Now onto something that is a known. Olive oil granola is amazing.

The thought of olive oil in your granola might sound a little weird, but trust me, it’s not. Olive oil + maple syrup and brown rice syrup and all the add ins [pistachio, hemp seed, almond, coconut, dried fig, dried currant, dried apricot] makes it amazing!

This recipe made a BIG batch of granola. Most of which I mailed out to a couple sweet ladies earlier in the week. You can’t see too many big clusters in these pictures because, a) I ate most of them straight from the pan and b) they got mailed out. But the bottom of the bag is still delish!

Granola is one of those things I don’t keep on hand too often, mainly because I can’t keep my hands out of it. When I do make it, I sure love it.

You will love this recipe too!

Sweet n Salty Olive Oil Granola
Adapted from preventionrd

Makes about 9 cups

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup pistachios, hulled and roughly chopped

1/4 cup hemp seeds

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 cup large unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup dried currants

1/3 cup dried apricots, diced

1/3 cup dried figs, diced

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup brown rice syrup**

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup natural cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 egg white

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, pistachios, hemp seed, almonds, coconut, and fruit; mix well until combined. Add in the maple syrup, olive oil, sugar, salt, and cinnamon; toss until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white until it becomes frothy and foamy (1-2 minutes). Mix into the granola mixture.

Distribute the mixture out in an even layer. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, to get evenly browned.

Remove from heat and let cool completely. As it cools, it will begin to harden and form into one large piece.

Once it is cooled, using your hands, break up the granola into clusters of your desired size.

**you can use all maple syrup like the original recipe called for instead of the combo of maple + brown rice syrup. I just ran out of maple syrup and improvised!

It’s good straight off the pan, or soaked in milk. Delicious!

How long does granola usually last in your house? Not very long here. Cereal and granola in general are usually gone in a flash.

I’m headed out to get the tires rotated on the Jeep soon, and since it’s raining I won’t be able to bring Joe and walk him. Major bummer. Then tons of cleaning around the house, lunch with some friends and the chiro. Looking forward to today!

Maybe a baby…. tomorrow I’m due!

Heather

05/10/12

nutella surprise balls

What happens when a hungry and pregnant Heather goes to Costco?

She randomly stocks up on awesome finds…

Love hemp seeds

Tries a new Doctor Cracker Asiago Cheese cracker – it’s like a healthy cheese it!

Finds her almond butter…

Then magically puts a couple jars of nutella in the cart for her hubby.

For her hubby, yes.

Okay, I really did think of Jacob when I grabbed the nutella, and I was super excited by his excitement when he saw it.

What I wasn’t excited about… the $150 Costco got from me. Yeah I stocked up on a lot, but holy cow that was crushing.

So what’s the topic of the day going to be — nutella, a surprise and body pump.

I was going to make a batch of my protein balls to bring to body pump last night, but then when Jacob got the nutella out for some toast, I had him leave it out. Convenient

Since I had already soaked some extra dates for my energy balls to bring along to the hospital, they got subbed in instead of maple syrup. Things were starting to change now. No peanuts, but yes to walnuts. Sounding interesting….

Nutella Surprise Balls
Makes about 20 balls

Adapted from cinnamon raisin peanut butter protein balls

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

6 dates (soaked in water overnight or at least 1 hour), drained

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup nutella

2 tbsp dark chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions

Combine the chickpeas, dates, walnuts and rolled oats in a food processor. Run until everything is broken down and relatively smooth. Add the remaining ingredients to fully combine.

Place in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour (or overnight). Roll into balls and store in the freezer (they keep their form best when chilled).

So there’s the nutella. I brought most of the batch to my body pump class last night to share and didn’t tell them the surprise ingredient until after they tried it. They would have never known there were beans in there and to my delight, the balls were a hit!

I taught 4 new-to-me tracks from an older release last night and holy moly my biceps and triceps are sure feeling it today! I just have 2 more body pump classes to teach next week during our launch for 81, then no more until after baby. I’m definitely going to miss my class and teaching for that little bit.

I’ll have to think of another goody to bring my last week. Any suggestions of treats filled with hidden surprises?

Heather