For The Sake of Cake

It’s no secret that I love sweets (you do know the name of this blog, don’t you?).

Do you want to know what happens right around this time of year (every year, without fail)? I eat ice cream. A lot of ice cream. Like, every night. The madness needs to stop.

While meal planning this week, I started thinking about some healthier substitutes I could use to satiate my ice cream craving this summer. Here are a few of my favorite items that are cold, sweet, and guilt-free!

Chobani

Option #1 – “Fro Cho”

I’m not someone who is really a fan of “dessert substitutes.” Just give me the real thing, please. However, frozen Chobani is really, really good! I like to pop one in the freezer right before dinner, and by the time my sweet tooth kicks in I’ve got an ice-cream like treat.

Option #2 – Chobani Flips

I’ve already talked about how much I love the key lime crumble Flip in previous posts. I buy at least one per week (we spend the rest of our Chobani budget on the “regular” cups), and I usually make it to Tuesday before digging into it for dessert. (I always have good intentions and think I’ll “save it,” but it never happens!)

Edy’s Outshine Frozen Fruit Bars

I just bought these at the store this week, and I’ve quickly become obsessed. There are only 25 calories per bar, and 1 gram of sugar. I realize they’re sweetened with Splenda—and that’s not everyone’s thing—but it really doesn’t bother me.

Frozen Yogurt (with moderate toppings)

Frozen yogurt is a great alternative to ice cream, and I love all of the self-serve places that have been popping up. (If we’re getting them here in Reading, PA, I know they’ve got to be in your town, too.)

My downfall with this sweet treat is loading up on the toppings. When I stop and think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever used the fruit toppings available. I go for the “good stuff”—cookie dough, peanut butter cups, gummy bears, etc. Keeping the fro yo portion under control and adding some of the healthier toppings available make this a good option.

Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars

(image source)

I tried these bars for the first time last summer, and they’re great—a little creamier than a regular ice pop. Chris and I were able to find them at BJ’s and purchased a big box for a reasonable price. Since I’ve first tried them, they’ve come out with lots of yummy flavors, so I’ll have to track these down again.

Fruit Smoothies

You can’t beat a fruit smoothie on a warm summer day! Fresh or frozen fruit, combined with yogurt, milk, protein powder, etc. makes for a sweet—but healthy—snack.

Do you have any “sweet substitutes” I should add to this list?

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with your family.

Our first stop yesterday was my parents’ house, where our family celebration was taking place.

Me and Chris

Me and my sister

“Dinner” (lunch, really) was ready quickly!

We had all of the usuals… turkey (of course) cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, corn, potato filling, sweet potato casserole (my contribution!) and rolls. I added a little bit of everything to my plate.

I went back for seconds of the potato filling, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Everything was so yummy.

Of course, dessert wasn’t far behind.

As you can see, I forgot to snap a photo before digging in, but I had a piece of pumpkin pie along with a pumpkin whoopie pie (another one of my contributions).

After spending some more time with my family, Chris and I headed over to his parents’ house. Luckily, our families only live about 5 minutes apart, so it’s an easy trip.

I ate pretty much everything that I had at my parents’… Thanksgiving “take two.” For dessert, I had a piece of cherry pie that my sister-in-law, Andrea, made; delicious!

After we left my in-laws – about 9:30PM – I headed to Target. I’m definitely not someone who goes “all out” on Black Friday, but I saw an $8 waffle iron advertised in their circular, and I wanted to pick one up. Clearly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The parking lot was packed, the lines were out of control, and they were already sold out of the waffle maker.

Luckily, they had re-stocked by the time my mom and I ventured out again this afternoon! I was pumped to finally get a waffle iron (I’ve been wanting one for a little while now) and bought some red velvet mix to try out tomorrow.

I also got a good deal on 2 large candles from Bath and Body Works. Colleen posted about the two for $20 deal this morning, and the cinnamon frosting and twisted peppermint scents called out to me!

Another exciting Black Friday purchase? New running shoes!

I went to a local running store – A Running Start – and got properly fitted. After being shown a few different styles, I settled on these Saucony Guide 6s.  I can’t wait to get out there and give them a try… probably on Sunday!

I returned home to a pizza that Chris picked up while I was out shopping. Now, we’re settled in for a quiet evening at home… typical.

What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Are you a Black Friday shopper? What was your best deal of the day? I also picked up two tops at LOFT (for myself, ha!) and a bunch of little items for a Secret Santa exchange that I participate in at work.

Happy Wednesday friends! How’s the weather where you are? If you live in the northeast, are you getting snow? We were supposed to get 1-2 inches where I live, but I haven’t seen a single flake. Although a 2-hour delay would have been nice (they’re the best!) I’m perfectly fine with going without snow for a little while.

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It’s been a few weeks since I participated in Jen’s What I Ate Wednesday. I actually photographed my eats on Monday, with the exception of dinner which was from last night.

Breakfast – Cranberry English muffin with butter and jelly and pumpkin coffee

Have you tried the cranberry English muffins that Thomas’ rolls out every holiday season? They are so good… seriously, like the best English muffins ever. I always stock up when they’re available and purchase a few extra packs to freeze!

AM Snack – Banana

Some of you may have seen or heard of this new-fangled fruit before, no? I ate this banana right when I got to work, not long after breakfast. Typically, an English muffin won’t keep me full from 6:40 (breakfast) until 11:00 (lunch), so I wanted to have a little something extra.

Lunch – Peanut butter and jelly on wheat, honey wheat pretzels, back cherry Chobani, Sparkling ICE pomegranate berry

I actually ate my lunch at my desk on Monday, which I try to avoid doing. Our first quarter grades are due on Sunday though, and I still have quite a bit I’m trying to finish up, so I wanted to use the extra time to get a little work done.

I love the honey wheat pretzel twists from Rold Gold, but I was disappointed to see that 8 pretzels are a 110 calorie serving. What the?! I’m not usually one to worry about that kind of thing, but I also don’t want to take in 300 calories in pretzels… sigh. So the point of this tangent is that I portioned out 8 sad little pretzels.

Of course, I had to have my daily Cho’ too!

Snack – Apple cinnamon Nutri-Grain bar

I had a doctor’s appointment after work on Monday, and I got stuck in stop-and-go traffic on my way home. Since I hadn’t had an after-school snack, I was getting pretty hungry and I dug this out of my lunch bag to hold me over until dinner.

Dinner – Slow cooker A1 beef “stew”

I (shockingly) haven’t used my slow cooker in a while, so I looked for a recipe that would require my favorite kitchen appliance when I meal planned this week. This is so simple! All you have to do is combine the following in your slow cooker:

• 1.5-2 lb. beef (I bought the pre-cut stew pieces.)
• 1/4 c. A1
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes

Let it cook on low for 8-9 hours. Before serving, mix in 2 tbsp. flour and let sit for a few minutes to “thicken up.”

I served this over brown rice and with a side of green bean casserole (I could seriously just eat a packet of green been casserole for dinner!).

I also made a very tasty dinner tonight, but I’ll save that for another post!

Have a great night; only 2 more days until the weekend.

Have you ever tried the honey wheat pretzel twists? What about the frozen green bean casserole? The cranberry English muffins? I can’t be the only one who loves these products!

I realized two things this weekend…

1) Breakfast can be awesome without chocolate chips (shocking, but true).

2) I probably should have named my blog “For the Sake of Baked Oatmeal.” It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

I mentioned I was working on a new baked oatmeal recipe in yesterday’s post, but it still needed some tweaking. Well, since I had the day off from school today – thanks to Hurricane Sandy – I was able to give this recipe another go and I was much happier with the results.

I topped mine with some syrup, as the cranberries pack a little punch of tartness!

Yum.

This is the perfect, seasonal breakfast for Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings. I’ll have to work on making a large batch for my family’s Christmas morning celebration! (Yes, I’m already talking about Christmas.)

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As far as Hurricane Sandy goes, we still have power, but things are pretty nasty! Lots of intense wind and heavy rain, but I think we’ve been pretty lucky so far. I have the day off from work tomorrow, and it looks like everything will be over by tomorrow evening. I’m sure there will be residual flooding to follow the “main event,” but I think everyone will breathe a sigh of relief once the wind and rain stop.

If you’re in the northeast, how have you been keeping yourself busy during Hurricane Sandy?

Hello friends!

I’ve got a great, simple smoothie recipe to share with you all!

This smoothie is similar to the one I made a few weeks ago, but I added a new, key ingredient – cocoa powder!

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
• 1 heaping tbsp. vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1-2 scoop(s) Vega One French Vanilla
• 1/3-1/2 c. milk of choice
• 1 tsp. cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. sweetener (I used Sweet X Xylitol from Swanson Vitamins)
• Sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients until well-blended.

This was so good! It tasted like a chocolate milkshake, with just a touch of pumpkin… yum!

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I realized that I never showed you all the remaining bedrooms in our new house. You want to know why? They’re empty (for the most part!).

I actually told Chris the other day that half the time I forget these rooms even exist!

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3 (where Chris is currently storing some of his music stuff)

Oh, and there’s a second full bath, too!

As you can see, we don’t even have a shower curtain hung yet… or blinds for that matter. Clearly, we’re on top of our decorating game. (You’ll be happy to know we do have a shower curtain and blinds in the bathroom we actually use!)

So there you have it… a few empty rooms… I know, you don’t have to tell me my content is particularly fascinating this evening!

What’s your favorite kind of smoothie? I’m a fan of the classic strawberry-banana combo!

Which room in your house would you redecorate? We’re probably going to do Chris’s music room first.

How’s the weather where you live?

It definitely feels like fall here in Pennsylvania. For the past few days, the temperature has been consistently hovering between 55* and 65*.

While I definitely prefer the warmer, sunnier months, there is something comforting about curling up on the couch (in sweats!) with a warm bowl of something tasty.

In an effort to remind myself (and all of you, my wonderful readers) of some favorite comfort food recipes, I’ve created a quick round-up!

A breakfast option…

French Toast Casserole

I love this recipe because you prep everything at night. All that’s left to do in the morning is bake, and in a few minutes you’ve got a hot breakfast!

Dinner options…

Sweet Potato Soup

This is a recipe I created on my own last fall. If you’re a sweet potato fan (who isn’t?) this meal is highly recommend! Added bonus: it’s made in the crockpot.

Tuscan Chili

Yet another crockpot meal! I haven’t made this since the winter, but I’ve got some chicken sausage in the freezer, so I’m thinking it might show up on our meal plan for next week.

Baked Potato Soup

I’ve talked about this recipe several times already; just try it!

Baked Penne

The addition of Philadelphia Cooking Creme makes this dish super creamy and cheesy, which is extra-perfect on a cold fall/winter evening. This recipe makes a pretty hearty portion, so there’s sure to be leftovers.

Chicken-Bacon Mac and Cheese

When I think “comfort food” macaroni and cheese immediately comes to mind. This chicken-bacon version is a little heartier than plain old noodles and cheese, and it’s definitely decadent!

A dessert option…

Apple Cake

I’ve seen lots of apple orchard visits pop up on quite a few blogs lately. If you’re wondering what to do with an abundance of everyone’s favorite fall fruit, I suggest throwing a few into this cake recipe!

What’s your favorite comfort food? Feel free to add links to your favorite recipes!

Phew! I can’t believe I’ve been participating in What I Ate Wednesday for 30 weeks!

Jenn chose the theme “Spooky Snacks + Healthy Halloween Treats” for this month. While I can’t say it’s healthy, I’ve definitely been hitting one Halloween treat hard this week – candy corn!

In the mix for my overnight oats:

• 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
• 1 heaping tbsp. pumpkin
• 1 tbsp. vanilla Chobani
• Enough milk to get everything well-mixed

In the morning, I added:

• Peanut butter Cheerios (another item I’ve been eating a lot of!)
• A few chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. peanut butter
• Drizzle of honey

The pumpkin coffee came compliments of a Green Mountain K-Cup.

I really loved this flavor combination and plan to make it again tomorrow, too!

Lunch – Peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat, pretzels, apple-cinnamon Chobani, 100 calorie pack of Blue Diamond almonds (buy these in bulk!), banana and water

I ate the sandwich, pretzels, and yogurt at lunch.

This afternoon, I actually had a sub cover my classes while I worked on some curriculum “stuff” with our department head. It’s always nice to have a little change up in my normal schedule!

I ended up eating the almonds and banana at the end of the day.

After work, I had to run to Target to do a little shopping for our nephew.

I got home around 4:00PM, and immediately consumed a bowl of peanut butter Cheerios, a few Triscuits + sharp cheddar slices, and a handful or two three of candy corn. I don’t know what came over me, but I was ravenous.

I did a little bit of blog reading, then my eyes started getting heavy. I had planned on going for a run, but the thought of a nap sounded so appealing. Shockingly, I still forced myself to run!

I prepped dinner, threw some laundry in the washer, and headed out to complete just over 2 miles.

Once the run was done and Stewie was walked, dinner was ready… perfect timing!

Dinner – Turkey meatloaf, green beans, and brown rice

To make this meatloaf, I used this recipe for inspiration.

After preheating the oven to 375*, I combined the following ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean, ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 packet of chicken stuffing mix
• 1 tbsp. BBQ sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bake for an hour, then dig in.

So easy!

I served the meatloaf with a big portion of green beans and brown rice.

Dessert – Vanilla Chobani, vanilla cupcake Goldfish, chocolate chips, honey

This evening snack is a little bit of sugar-overload, but it’s super tasty and a better option than the Oreos I downed for dessert last night!

Time to go pack up some leftovers for my lunch tomorrow! Enjoy the rest of your evening.

What’s your favorite “healthy” dessert? I’ve got to stop digging into the candy corn… seriously.

Welcome back everyone!

Thanks so much for all of the positive feedback on the interview with Healthy Page; I’m glad you guys liked reading it!

It’s mid-week which = What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by Jen from Peas and Crayons.

It was certainly a pumpkin-filled breakfast!

I’ve been making a few servings of baked oatmeal at a time, wrapping them up and storing them in the fridge. All I have to do in the morning is quickly heat them up and top with a little bit of light syrup and breakfast is ready to be enjoyed with some early-AM blog reading. Sadly, this batch of oatmeal required me to use up the last of my pumpkin, so I’ll have to restock this weekend.

The pumpkin coffee is actually the limited-time pumpkin KCup offered by Dunkin’ Donuts. I won a box in a Twitter giveaway they were running, and I’ve really been enjoying it. I’m almost out, so I’ll have to check my local DD for more!

Lunch/Snacks – Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, white cheddar Goldfish, black cherry Chobani, a banana, 100 calorie pack of almonds, water

This is what I packed in my lunch bag today.

I ate the sandwich, Goldfish, and yogurt at lunch. The Goldfish were an impulse buy at Target, and they are so, so addicting!

Later on in the day, I ate the banana, but I never got around to the almonds.

Dinner – Baked sweet potato, topped with BBQ pulled pork

This meal is so quick and easy! Before leaving for work this morning, I put a few pork chops in the crockpot with a can of beef stock. Then, all I had to do was microwave the sweet potato, shred the pork, and add a bit of BBQ sauce. So simple!

Dessert – Pumpkin spice cupcake

Yes, even more pumpkin. I picked up a few cupcakes at one of my favorite spots yesterday, and I saved this one for tonight! I’ve never had a cupcake from this particular store that hasn’t been absolutely amazing, and this one lived up to all my expectations! And I’ve got high expectations for my cupcakes people!

I’m thinking I should’ve ate a little something more with my dinner, because I’m already getting a little hungry again and those darn Goldfish are calling to me from the pantry!

What’s your favorite kind of cupcake? Sublime (where I got the cupcake pictured above) has the most amazing red velvet cupcakes, but I also love their peanut butter cup one!

Well hello there!

You’re never going to guess what I did! And no, I didn’t adopt another doggie this weekend.

This evening, I signed up for the DISNEY PRINCESS HALF MARATHON! I’m so excited, and I’m already pretty nervous which doesn’t bode well for February.

(source)

This will be my first half marathon, and perhaps even my first race! I realize it would be a good idea to sign up for a 5K or something before the half, but we’ll see what comes up. I’m running it with my sister, and the main goal will just be to finish and have fun!

Right now, I’m running about 2 miles at a time. This means I have five months to be able to run an additional 9 miles. Of course, I’ll keep you all updated along the way! Right now, I’m still in disbelief that I registered. After paying the money, there’s no turning back now!

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So of course, registering for the half marathon was the big excitement for the weekend, but I’ve got a few other pictures to share.

Saturday was the Humane Society walk I mentioned in Thursday’s vlog. It was a lot of fun and there were so many cute dogs in attendance; we even saw two other black pugs!

The walk lasted about 20-25 minutes, and Stewie was so pooped by the end. It was actually a pretty warm day, so we let him lay down and chill out for a while after the walk.

He was happy to be heading home to take a nap!

I had plans to be productive Saturday afternoon, but after the walk Chris and I ended up taking a nap, too. I guess Stewie wasn’t the only one who was tired!

Fast forward to this morning…

After a 10:00PM bedtime last night, I was up around 6:20AM this morning! I made a big serving of pumpkin chocolate chip baked oatmeal and enjoyed a mug of pumpkin coffee while catching up on some graduate work.

I headed off to spin class at 9:30AM, then took care of my Target/grocery shopping immediately afterwards; it felt good to get it out of the way.

The rest of my afternoon was spent doing a bit of cleaning and school work. I just realized now that I still have some quizzes to grade… oy.

Mid-afternoon, I broke from my work to make Chris and I pumpkin pie smoothies. I’d been seeing various recipes pop up on quite a few blogs, but I just sort of did my own thing!

To make one smoothie, I blended up the following ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 c. skim milk
• About 3 tbsp. Vega French Vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
• Dash of vanilla
• Pumpkin pie spice (I just sprinkled a bunch in… no measuring for me!)

This was great! I’m thinking it will be perfect after those training runs that are in my near future. The only thing I hate about smoothies? Clean-up! Why are blenders such a pain?!

Chris and I just finished up dinner, and he mentioned something about pie for dessert, so I’m about to go pester him about that. Then I guess I better get to those quizzes. Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Are you running the 2013 Disney Princess Half Marathon? Have you run the race in the past? Any advice/thoughts? Please share!

Happy weekend everyone!

I feel like I haven’t posted on a Friday in a while, but I’m feeling up to it this evening, so why not?

Today actually ended up being a great day! Don’t you love that? I was in a fairly good mood today knowing that the weekend was on the horizon and the day passed by pretty quickly.

A few things that made today great…

A yummy lunch!

I’d be hearing such great reviews about the new Barilla in 60 meals from some of my Fitfluential friends and I was excited when I finally spotted them at Target this past weekend. I microwaved one for lunch at work today, and I was pretty impressed… very tasty and a nice, quick option.

After-school shopping!

I’m lucky enough to live close to some pretty awesome outlets. I wanted to stop at both the Bath and Body Works and Yankee Candle outlets to pick up some fall fragrance “stuff.”

Hand soaps were 4 for $15 at Bath and Body…

And I scored a fall-themed tart burner at Yankee Candle for a mere $5! (I also purchased a bunch of season-appropriate tarts.)

Of course I couldn’t be at the outlets and not stop at LOFT. The 40% off signs drew me in, and I ended up buying three shirts that are ideal for the transitional weather between summer and fall.

PSL!

This yummy, afternoon pick-me-up was another highlight of my day! Yum!

Afternoon stroll with Stewie!

We were practicing for tomorrow’s walk. (And yes, his leash has a skull and cross-bone print because he’s really, really tough.)

A “real” dinner!

Ok, so all I did was microwave a spaghetti squash and cook up some meatballs, but this is a big step up from my usual Friday dinner of peanut butter and jelly. By this point in the week, I’m just spent. Tonight, however, I powered through to make something a bit more substantial.

Relaxing and TV watching on our new couch!

A few days ago, I mentioned in passing that Chris and I got a “new” couch for our living room. We actually purchased the couch from a family friend (Kristin) and were so happy to have something big enough for both of us to comfortably fit on. Tonight, I had the whole bad boy to myself!

Clearly, we still need curtains and some paint. All in good time friends!

That brings us to now… some down time to catch up on blog reading and hopefully get to bed early. I can’t wait to catch up on some sleep from this past week.

Enjoy the evening and weekend!

What color scheme is your living room? Chris and I have a dark brown + deep red + steely blue color combo going on that I kind of like!