Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls

Remember those PB and Pretzel balls dipped in chocolate...well I made them.  And I may or may not have eaten 4 of them.  But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets recap dinner shall we?

Originally Jon and I had planned to meet up with some friends to watch the Final Four basketball games but when that fell through I had to figure out what I was going to cook up for dinner.  As I was flipping through my recipes two stuck out big time.  BBQ meatloaf and the best roasted broccoli ever. We had pretty much everything except the lean ground beef. 

I headed out to Whole Foods to shop each and every aisle looking for my next favorite find pick up the beef.  I walked away with a couple of other items as well.  Shocking, right?  As of now I am most excited about the cinnamon & sugar pita chips I picked up.  I think they'll be delish when dipped in a big ol' bowl of greek yogurt.

Yummy with or without yogurt!


I also picked up some strawberries that were on sale.... I can't even begin to explain how excited I am that the fruits of summer are starting to appear readily in supermarkets across town.  Summer is my favorite season for many reasons and not least of which is the fruit that starts gracing us with their presence during the warmer months.

Once I got home I started getting dinner ready.  Of course meatloaf tastes AH-MAZ-ING but even cooler than that is how quick it comes together.  I literally had the meatloaf in the oven within 15 minutes of getting home.  While it baked (for an hour!!! jeez, hurry up meatloaf!) I prepped the broccoli and started fixin' up my PB balls.  Every little thing was so worth the wait!

fresh out o' the oven

plate full of goodies!

These were both super easy to make and suuuper delish to eat.  I'll definitely be making these again soon.

BBQ Meatloaf Recipe - found on PBF
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  pounds  ground beef, extra lean (raw)
• 1/2  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 1/2  cup  chopped onion
• 1/3  cup  barbecue sauce, divided
• 1  tablespoon  prepared mustard
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chili powder
• 1  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  large egg whites
• Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, and onion, 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce, and remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.
Shape meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf or a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Spread remaining barbecue sauce over top of meat loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut loaf into 12 slices.
Nutritional Information:
(Recipe yields 12 slices, two slices per serving)

Calories: 203 (24% from fat)

Fat: 5.4g (sat 2.2g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g)

Protein: 27.3g

Carbohydrate: 10.5g

Fiber: 1.1g

Cholesterol: 61mg

Iron: 3.2mg

Sodium: 517mg

Calcium: 26mg

Best Roasted Broccoli - found on Carrots 'n Cake
Ingredients:

• 2 large heads of broccoli
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

• Cut broccoli into florets
• Toss florets in olive oil and sugar
• Cover baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or tin foil
• Spread broccoli florets on baking sheet
• Broil for 5-7 minutes until edges of florets turn brown and crispy

Now finally onto the PB balls!

These also came together in a flash  and Brewer loved the fact that I made them because she got to clean several spoons as well.

First you mix together 1/4 c. crushed pretzels with 1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter.  I also added chia seeds for some extra crunch and nutrition (nutrition in cookies??? yep!).

You then freeze the "dough" for 15 minutes until it hardens a bit and roll it into balls so they're ready for dunking in chocolate.

Can you spot Brewer?  Don't feel bad for her, she got her fare share of these bad boys. Once the balls harden a bit you dunk 'em in chocolate and they're ready to devour!  And devour we did!!!  I mean, can you blame us?

The finished product

Checkin' out the goods

Peanut Butter & Pretzel Truffles - found on Eating Well

1/2 cup crunchy natural peanut butter

1/4 cup finely chopped salted pretzels

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

Combine peanut butter and pretzels in a small bowl. Chill in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. Roll the peanut butter mixture into 20 balls (about 1 teaspoon each). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and freeze until very firm, about 1 hour. Roll the frozen balls in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

Snuggle Sesh

This morning started off slowly but with a bang.  I've never been a morning person, although I really really wanna be one, so I relish the opportunity to sleep in on the weekends.  The usual routine is Brew wakes me up about 8ish to go potty and eat, then we crawl back in bed for a "nap" until about 10. Not having to wake up to an alarm and snuggling with Brew are probably the two things I look forward to most on the weekends. 

Breakfast
Since I mistakenly cooked up a batch of slow oats last nights breakfast was easy.  I scooped out about a cup and half of oats into my bowl, topped it with lots 'o' frozen berries and a large dollop of peanut butter before I popped the mixture into the microwave to get nice and warm.  Once it was piping hot I stirred all the goodies together and added the final touch of some shaved coconut.  This meal was quite the treat!

My yummy (and filling) breakfast bowl

With a meal like that I had the energy I needed to tackle this mornings chores.  The kitchen was in need of some serious TLC and we had tons o' laundry to do.  I put on a good show and got to work. 

Workout
Today was YogaX day.  Its the workout I least look forward to completing, but MOST love having completed when I am done.  I love love love yoga but it is a real time commitment.  The YogaX dvd from P90X is just over an hour and a half start to finish.  It is a great workout but I was in the mood to see what ExerciseTV had to offer me on OnDemand.  I started out doing the Bethenny Frankel yoga thinking it was going to be 60 minutes, but the yoga portion only lasted 40 and then it turned into weights.  I wasn't feeling weights today so I found a nice 30 minute pilates routine to finish out my workout.

Lunch
I skipped right to lunch today because my breakfast was soo filling.  We had quite a bit of leftovers in the fridge and I was determined to put them to good use.  I heated up the remaining spaghetting squash noodles from Monday's lunch and last nights roasted brussel sprouts. I topped the mix with some marinara and a heaping scoop of ricotta cheese.  I stirred it all together and LOVED the way it tasted.  There was a great spice from the chili oil I roasted the brussel sprouts in and this meal most definitely hit the spot. 

mmmmmmmm tasty!

For dessert I polished off a no sugar added tapioca cup.  It was the perfect cherry on top of the meal. 

Its no surprise who else wanted in...

Afternoon happenings
Right after lunch I caught up on some blogs and then took a nap on the couch with Brew.  Have I mentioned how much I love snuggling with her??  Now I'm enjoying a beer while watching what I wish wasn't the end of March Madness (GO BUTLER!).  I'm thinking of heading out to the store to pick up supplies for some PB & Pretzel balls that I saw online.  Stay tuned for those....

I hope you're weekend has started off great!

Boring? No Way!

For my afternoon snack-turned lunch I had a big ol' helping of cottage cheese.  It may seem a bit boring to you, but I love me some cottage cheese and could eat buckets of it in one sitting.  I also enjoyed a strawberry acai jello.  This wasn't the most balanced meal, but it sure made me a happy camper.  

The reason it became my lunch??  I ended up having an off site meeting that kept me away all through lunch time. Not to fear, there was a going away party for a co-worker at 3:30 and I knew I could find some treats there to tide me over should hunger strike.  The party offered lots 'o good stuff - but I only mean good as far as taste, not in nutrition...  When celebration calls a girls gotta answer!  I had a lemon frosted cookie, a bag of garden salsa sun chips (could've been worse, right?), and the most delicious little brownie bite ever known to man.  All of these went undocumented because I ate them in record time :)
The real workout
Upon arriving home I got back on track!  The sun was still out and Brewer was ready for a run!  I had to pick up a couple things at the store for dinner, so I tucked my credit card in my running shorts and headed out for a very enjoyable 4 miler. 
Before I started cooking dinner, I wanted a lil something in my belly. I downed a glass of water and one of these.

Brewer wanted in on it too!

Dinner
I picked up what I needed from the store to whip up a spicy green curry meal.  I started cooking away and before too long I realized my cous cous was looking funny.  After closer look at the label I learned that I picked up slow cooking oats instead of a hearty topping for the curry.  Another oopsie poopsie :)  So when life gives you lemons (or you give yourself lemons) you quickly start a pot of rice [for the hunny] to eat with dinner and save the oats for a nice Saturday breakfast.

Rice vs. Slow cooked oats

Dinner was quite good, but lacked a bit of flavor.  I like my curry's to punch me in the face, and this was like a soft breeze.  I'll do some doctoring to it when I re-heat the left overs for my second go round.

Curry 'n Sprouts

Since we only had white rice on hand I ate my curry with a whole wheat tortilla and had a big helping of roasted brussel sprouts.

For dessert I discovered something I'd like to call heaven in a cup.  It was a fudge covered banana pudding cup.  I'm not a huge fan of banana flavored things, but this was, in one word.....WINNING.

So far, April is off to a pretty great start!  See ya in the morning :)

April ain't foolin' me!

Lots of exciting things have happened today!!

Workout (kinda)
The only thing that I haven't been a big fan of is that I woke up with some major shoulder pain.  When I told Jon about it, he jovially proclaimed that it was probably from all the post-its I put up last night.  I decided to take this morning off working out because I didn't want to aggravate my shoulder any further doing Core Synergistics from the P90X program, and also because the weatherman told us that we could expect some sun today and I LOVE running in the sun with Brew!  I think I'm not the only one, because I just read this adorable article on Melindas blog that talks about how great it is to run with your canine friends.

Running the Doggie Dash last year with my friend Collen, sister Ceressa and our pups!

The sun is just starting to show its face so I'm hoping it'll have around until I leave work.


Breakfast
That covered my workout (or lack thereof) now back to breakfast.  I once again enjoyed an egg/veggie scramble.  This topped I added some feta cheese and it was quite tasty and very filling.  This is quickly becoming my go-to breakfast.  Its quick, delish, and fast to make.

 A few hours after I digested this I was ready for a snack.  I tried a string cheese quesadilla that I learned from my trusty fellow blogger, Julie over at Peanut Butter Fingers.  It was quite tasty, but I think next time I'd like to add some almonds or something to give it that extra punch!  As with all my string cheeses, this one too had a fun trivia fact:

Q: The signal from NASA's Voyager requires less energy than what common household appliance?
A: The Blow Dryer (GASP!)

 

Check out that oooey gooey goodness

When I read that post I thought how much I am killing our environment every time I blow dry my hair.  I don't think I'm willing to give it up yet, but I will do my part to make this world better.  Its green month here at Nike and they have quite the fantastic campaign going right now.  Check it out: Nike Better World

So inspiring!  On that note, I'm off!