Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein No Bake Energy Balls

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Cooking, Food, Health

How’s that for a title that is bigger than the food itself? About two weeks ago I posted my first energy ball recipe (a Peanut Butter Cup recipe– it’s delicious!), and this is just a fun variation of that one. Again, no need to exactly measure out these quantities- I just eye ball them (but I’ll give you a rough estimate for each of the amounts).

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey (plus about 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1/5-2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1/4-1/3 cup chocolate protein powder

I tossed everything into the bowl all at once and mixed it thoroughly together, and then put the bowl in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. When I took it out, I just rolled the dough into individual balls.

Delicious looking, right? For all of you flower folks out there- that’s a verbena in the pot behind the ball.

It’s SO easy, and really only requires 1 bowl and 1 spoon to be washed at the end. You can’t get better than that, can you? I’ve already come up with another 4-5 different flavors of these balls to make, and can’t wait to try them out. I’ll be sharing them all with you as I make them!

So seriously- make these as soon as you possible can! They’re worth it! For more recipes, click here.

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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Peanut Butter Cup No-Bake Energy Balls

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Cooking, Food

I’ve recently been a bit unhappy about my sugar intake, knowing that it’s in my best interested to decrease it a bit (please note that I’m not trying to cut out sugar completely AT ALL, but just get down to what the recommended daily serving is). I’ve been eating far too many homemade peanut butter cups, and while they’re delicious, I don’t need 5 or 6 a week! To satisfy my peanut butter and chocolate craving, I decided to make some delicious energy balls. I searched around online, and then I modified this recipe I found on smashed peas and carrots. Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry oatmeal
• 2/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of honey (minus about 2-3 tablespoons- just eyeball it!)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (which I chopped up further)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• approximately 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1.5 or 2 tablespoons of chia seeds

I started with sliced almonds, put them on a cutting board, and then diced them up into much smaller pieces. Then I tossed everything else into the bowl too. I put it in the refrigerator for awhile to let it set, and then rolled the dough to make the individual balls. This made 16 balls I believe, and I tried to make them all as even as possible!

The result was absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely be making them again, as they are really fast, and a much healthier (but still delicious) snack option.

 I popped them in a container and put them in my refrigerator… but had to go back a few times to get a ball throughout the afternoon!

This was my first time making no bake energy balls, and I can’t wait to try out other flavors and variations! The day after I made these I ended up spending 14 hours helping a friend pack and move to a new apartment (I carried 59 loads of boxes and furniture up stairs- each time up was 17 stairs), so needless to say I needed a lot of energy! I brought some of these balls with me, and they worked wonderfully! This was a great way to put them to the test:)

So seriously- make these as soon as you possible can! They’re worth it! For more recipes, click here.

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
• Find me on ‘Bloglovin

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

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Cooking, Food, Lactose Intolerance

About six weeks ago I became obsessed with the chocolate/peanut butter combination. A friend of mine picked up these huge peanut butter cups for the two of us, and I happily ate it over the course of a few days. The next week she picked them up again for us. Somewhere in there was Easter (with lots of PB/chocolate combinations), and then again she brought the PB cups over. So, needless to say, I’ve been enjoying a few bites of peanut butter cups most days of the week, and I love it! However, the last time she brought them over she mentioned that they were $5 a piece. While they are absolutely delicious, that’s just ridiculous! Because of that, I decided to try to make my own. While not quite as pretty, they were just as delicious, and MUCH much cheaper! I used this recipe from “comfort of cooking” (head over there for actual recipe). This can easily be made lactose free, which is another great benefit to making your own candy and desserts!

Ingredients 

• chocolate chips (I chose semi-sweet)
• peanut butter
• butter (I used Earth Fare which is lactose free)
• powdered sugar
• salt (optional- the original recipe doesn’t call for it, but I thought it might be fun to add a little salty to half of the batch)

each layered step of the process

That’s it! It was really easy to mix up. The only thing that took a little time is that each layer of the cup needs to be made and frozen at each individual point, so that takes a bit of time.

With the top layer of chocolate, I put a little sea salt on half the batch. It was definitely delicious to have the salty and sweet together (I’m a fan of that combination), but it’s certainly not necessary.

With just a little salt on top!

One thing of note: it didn’t work the best to have the peanut butter all the way to the edge of the cup. With the first bite of the cup, the layers separated a bit and the peanut butter spilled out the sides. Eating them inside the liner definitely helped. While it didn’t impact the delicious taste of the cup, I’d definitely suggest leaving the peanut butter more in the center of the cup instead!

If you’re looking for a cheaper, healthier (I didn’t say healthy, but it certainly has less chemicals if you make them at home), and fun way to make candy/dessert, this is it! You can store these in the refrigerator for a few days to keep them delicious 🙂

If you want more delicious recipes, check out my recipe page!

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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How To Make Jello Eggs!

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Cooking, Family, Food, Holiday

When I was in mid-elementary school, my mom got these jello molds and started to make jello eggs for us at Easter time! Not only are they fun, but a great snack to take to all sorts of spring get togethers (I even made them for the fourth of July last year!). They’re relatively easy, but you need to plan ahead a bit to let them solidify in the refrigerator.

I have the recipe that my mom sent me, and I’ve spent about 10 minutes looking online to see if I could find it somewhere to link to. I couldn’t find it, so sorry if there’s one exactly the same that’s already out there!

Ingredients

• 4 packages of unflavored gelatin
• 3 boxes of flavored jello mix (your choice in flavors!)
• 3.5 cups of boiling water
• 0.5 cup of ice water
• oil spray (could use olive oil and a piece of paper towel I suppose)

Spray jello molds with oil spray so that the jello eggs will come out easily! Once you’ve done this, close the molds tightly together.

Bring about 4 cups of water to a hard boil. While you’re doing this, mix the gelatin packages with the jello packages in a bowl. Make sure to stir thoroughly together. Once the water is up to a boil, pour water from pan into a measuring cup and dump into the jello mix. Mix water and jello mix together thoroughly before putting in the half a cup of ice water. Quickly dump the mix into the measuring cup again (you want a good pouring spout) and pour slowly into the jello mold. When I made these on Saturday after my half marathon I made a mess (I blame it on all the energy I used earlier in the day), so you want to try to avoid that (but it’s not a big deal if you spill on the outside of the molds).

You want to fill right up the top of the egg part. Once you’re done filling them, put the tray that the molds are on into the refrigerator for 3 hours. Once they are set, use a knife to pop the molds open and shake the egg molds upside down into a bowl. You can also slide a knife between the egg and the mold to loosen it.

Store in a container in the refrigerator and enjoy! Kids LOVE these as they’re really a grab and go snack, but adults love them as well! If you’re looking for other recipes, check out my recipe page.

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s something you grew up eating on Easter? 

Looking for more ways to connect?

• Connect on twitter @kalolainastar
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Ellen’s Stardust Diner

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Food, Travel

Back in April of 2012 I went to New York City for work (and yes- this post has been sitting in my “drafts” folder since I was in the airport on my way home), and while there I had the opportunity to go to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. I’ll come right out and say that the food, while good, was not by any means the best food that you’ll find in NYC. However- that’s not the reason to go.

Ellen’s is a 1950’s style diner, is located right on Broadway, and features live performances! The waiters and waitresses sing and dance, both while people are eating, and occasionally even when they are serving the food!

The guy in blue is dancing & singing in between tables

They sound fantastic! In fact, this diner hires people who are great singers with the hope that they will be able to use this as their springboard onto broadway itself. They get to work here to make money to pay the bills, and they carry around an extra container to donate money to help them pay for auditions, classes, etc… If I remember correctly, they said that in the previous year before I had been there either 9 or 11 of their waiters and waitresses had been cast in broadway musicals! Cool, right?

So like I said, the food there isn’t anything special, but the ambiance and entertainment is really fun! If you’re interested in broadway and musicals, and want to help others reach their dreams, then this is a place to check out!

For more on my trip to NYC, you can check out this post

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you been to any entertainment restaurants? 

 

What’s In My Snack Drawer?

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Food

I eat breakfast at about 7 am, and my lunch hour doesn’t start until 1 pm, so most of the time I need a little something to get me through those 6 hours. I have a big drawer in my desk that holds all sorts of snacks and drink items so that I have a variety to choose from depending on my mood. I thought I’d give you a peek into my snack drawer:

I have Luna Bars in my drawer for my “2nd breakfast” on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when I teach pilates and barre before work. Cheese sticks are obviously not kept in my snack drawer, but I keep a bag of them in our work refrigerator, and they make filling and delicious snacks in the middle of the morning or right after work if I’m heading to work out. All the way on the right are some flavorings for water. Sometimes I just need a break from straight water, and these are easy and convenient.

More drinks!

I have a number of boxes of tea, as I usually end up drinking 3-4 cups of it a day (I reuse tea bags a few times). I also have apple cider mix to mix it up.

I usually have some sort of peanut butter, both for a snack item and to put on apples or bananas during lunch if I want. Almonds and other nuts are constants in my drawer. Occasionally I have dried fruit or trail mix as well.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are some snack items that you keep at work?

What I Ate Tuesday

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Cooking, Food

I actually don’t really love doing WIAW posts, but today’s challenge for the Move Nourish Believe Challenge that I’m doing is to do one of these posts, so here I am… doing that. While dinner is normally my “big meal” for the week, this week lunch is my big meal because the salads are BIG (I have a huge Tupperware bowl I bring it in to work), and I’m not hungry for a huge meal after that. Salads for the win.

This is actually “what I ate Tuesday”, and Tuesday mornings start early at 4:50 am when I wake up to teach barre class.

(Unpictured: banana and 8-9 ounces of orange juice before class)

I eat two breakfasts on the days that I teach, as I need something before I teach, but I’m hungry after I work out. My typical meal afterwards is a protein bar and 16 ounces of coffee (today it was w/samoa cookie creamer! YUM!):

Most days I either have almonds or a cheese stick as a morning snack, but days like this when I eat 2 breakfasts I am less likely to eat one of these. I didn’t today.

Lunch was this veggie protein salad– packed with a serving of quinoa, a serving of beans,  a hard boiled egg, cheese, spinach, and other fresh veggies. This salad is SO filling and delicious. I also had 2 clementines and a greek yogurt, and I was a little uncomfortably full at this point. I love this meal because it’s so quick, easy, healthy, and is packed with protein.

I often have an afternoon snack, but again with this salad, I usually stay full much longer than most of my lunches. Dinner was a stuffed pepper, a whole grapefruit, carrots with greek yogurt dip (YUMMMY!!!- also, unpictured) and a few of the eclairs from the box pictured. YUM!!!

Like I said, I often end up eating a morning and afternoon snack, but having two breakfasts along with how filling the lunch was, and that was definitely not happening today!

Now it’s your turn to share! What was one of your favorite foods you’ve had to eat so far this week?

Eating in Cuenca, Ecuador

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Ecuador, Food, Travel

One thing that I really love about Cuenca, Ecuador is the food (other things include Dos Chorreras and Piedra de Agua)! In the weeks leading up to the trip I made a list of the foods that I wanted to eat most of all, and immediately went on a hunt for them as soon as I arrived. Before I talk about the “must haves” and some of my favorite foods, I thought I’d outline a typical day of eating:

• Breakfast: Fresh bread from a local bakery along with cheese, tea, and coffee. Fresh fruit was also plentiful. Once or twice we were also served oatmeal. Typically I was pretty full (and stayed full!) for a number of hours after this meal.
• Lunch: The big meal of the day. Because most people end up taking 2-3 hours off, this meal might be eaten at a restaurant or at home. My host family would typically serve the following: bread with soup (potato, pea, quinoa & chicken, etc… <-all amazing though!), a main course (rice, meat, and veggie), and a dessert. Fresh fruit juice was also plentiful.
• Dinner: Smaller than lunch, and typically eaten somewhere between 9 and 10:30 at night. We had sandwiches, hotdogs (they were mini and cooked in ketchup, coke, and carmelized onions, then put on a bun with chips on top. It was amazing), or oatmeal again. Again, all were amazing.

Fresh fruit market

Fruits are plentiful in Ecuador, and there are so many more varieties of fruits compared to what we get in the U.S. If you ever go to Ecuador, make sure you eat as many fruits as you can, along with the delicious fruit juices (I forgot to take any pictures of the juices 😦 ).

This is what the guaba fruit looks like from the outside

This is guaba fruit (note: this is different than guava). The fruit is somewhat fuzzy and you suck the outside off, and a large black seed (the size of a cockroach) is left behind. It’s delicious and I wish I could get them at home.

This is guinea pig (cuy) and I did NOT try it. I’m opposed to eating any animal that I’ve cuddled at some point (and I had guinea pigs when I was little).

French onion soup at Piedra de Agua

Potato soup at Dos Chorreras

Soups are my favorite, and potato soup is an absolute MUST HAVE in Ecuador. They have different potatoes and a different oil (can also come in a powder form) that makes it a little more orange. It’s usually served with a slice of avocado, and it’s amazing.

Every day you’re in Ecuador you need to find a fresh little bakery and try all sorts of breads! They have dessert and sweet breads (covered in sugar, filled with jam, rolled with chocolate, etc…) as well as typical breads and rolls that you’d eat at a meal.

Make sure you try the delicious coffee at a few different cafes. This is outside of Un Buen, which was delicious! I also brought coffee home with me.

And finally- you need to try Inca Cola. People have very mixed opinions (it sort of tastes like Bubble Gum I think), but it’s part of the cultural experience.

This is by no means the extent of the foods that I ate, but are the things that I tend to look forward to each time I head down to Ecuador. The foods are delicious, and I can’t wait to go back and get my favorites once again!

Now it’s your turn to share! What are some of your favorite foods you’ve had while traveling?

Gingerbread Coffee

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Food, Holiday

This year I’ve fallen in love with the Gingerbread Lattes from Starbucks. However, I don’t choose to spend the money every day to get one because that’d be expensive. I almost never get the lattes, and usually get black coffee with 1-2 pumps of whatever flavored syrup I want (a hint to make drinks MUCH cheaper!). Even so, I don’t want to do that every day either. So, that left me to try and create something that tastes similar. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients

• Coffee grounds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 2 heaping tsp molasses
• sugar (optional)
• milk or cream (optional)

I put all the spices in with the coffee grounds and brewed the coffee as I usually do. Once it was reading, I put the molasses in my cup and poured the coffee into it. I mixed and threw in some sugar. If you’d like it a bit creamier, you can add some milk or cream.

Of course you can play around with the levels of the spices, depending on what you like! While making coffee isn’t the exact same as a delicious drink from Starbucks in that happy little red cup, this was a pretty great substitute!

Looking for other recipes? Check out my recipe page here.

What’s your favorite drink from Starbucks (or another coffee shop)? Do you ever try to recreate your favorite drinks at home?

Chocolate Peppermint Oatmeal

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Cooking, Food

I can’t make myself stop with the Christmas-y types of Oatmeal. While I’ve been enjoying my Gingerbread Oatmeal and Peppermint Christmas Oatmeal throughout this month, yesterday I felt like I wanted something a little different. I saw a container of cocoa powder sitting on my counter (for cookies!), and I wondered how it would taste mixed into oatmeal, so I tried it!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of dry oats
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 candy cane (crushed)
• 1.5 tsp cocoa powder
• Almonds or walnuts (optional)

Microwave oats and milk for 1:45-2:00 minutes. While this is microwaving, crush candy cane (I break it into 4-5 pieces, put in a plastic bag, and pound with a meat tenderizer). Once you pull it out of the microwave, mix in cocoa powder, candy cane, and whatever other toppings you’d like! Delicious! I will say that mixing in the chocolate powder made this a bit less sweet than when I just use oats and almond milk, so while the peppermint helped with that, if you really like it sweet, you might want to mix in some brown sugar.

I can’t wait to continue to eat this mix throughout the winter, but I’m going to especially enjoy it for the rest of the Christmas season!

For more variations of oatmeal or other recipes in general, check out my recipe page.

Do you like candy canes? If you do, what’s your favorite way to eat them?