A Salute to Nutella

So yesterday was World Nutella Day. And what a day it was! Baking with Nutella was a must. On Wednesday, I spent far too much time browsing online to locate the perfect recipe.

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I settled on Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins. Goodness gracious. I followed the instructions almost exactly, using half whole wheat and half white flour. I was especially excited to get tips on how to make muffins with nice tall domed tops. (Thick batter, full muffin tin cups, and the first 5 minutes of baking time at 425 degrees.)

Well, maybe excited is not quite the right word...interested, I was interested. The excitement hit around the time the oven timer went off...

They turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself. And the cinnamon and sugar coating on the top really takes these guys to the next level.

The amount of Nutella in each muffin is perfect. Honestly, though of course I love the stuff (as any sane person does), I don't go nuts with it. I notice when as I try to keep processed/sugary foods out of my diet that products like Nutella start to seem extra sweet. In a *yipes my teeth hurt* kind of way. So a little goes a long way! If you're looking to enjoy the good stuff, this is a nice simple recipe to try. And there's wheat flour in there, so it's almost a breakfast food, right? Right?

Reading Blogs & Eating Oatmeal. At Times Simultaneously.

I'm trying to eat healthy.

This isn't necessarily a New Year's resolution. I just want to be mindful of what I'm putting in my mouth. (For more on me and nutrition, click here)

So I've been chowing down on fruits and vegetables. I've been drinking lots of water. I've been avoiding processed foods and sugars.

I've also been experimenting in the kitchen.

Some new blogs have been extremely helpful to me during this time. It's very cool to read about women like me who are working to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

My current favorites are:

Carrots 'N Cake

Kath Eats Real Food 

The Great Fitness Experiment

Lots of recipes, pictures, workout tips, and advice. Unlike some of the wacky food or exercise writers out there, these three ladies are down-to-earth.

I've been inspired to try new things at the gym and eat new foods (flaxseed, anyone?) because of these blogs.

I've been making some really rockin' awesome food recently, so I thought I'd share just one recipe today so this blog post isn't a million paragraphs. I do like short paragraphs, in case you haven't noticed.

This muffin recipe is one I found on the blog Chocolate-Covered Katie. She has some, um, interesting recipes on there. She's into making healthy versions of desserts. Some are pretty out there. However, her chocolate chip cookie dough dip with chickpeas isn't bad. I actually like it, but it does not taste like cookie dough. I know my cookie dough.

So here's the muffin recipe! I modified it a bit, so check out Katie's original recipe if you want.

In a big bowl, stir together:
2 1/2 cups mashed banana (extra soft and ripe for best flavor)
2 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract

I know it looks gross. It's wet banana mush!

Now stir in:
5 cups rolled oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Now throw in whatever you think would taste good with oatmeal! Dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, etc. For my batch, I used raisins, shredded coconut, walnuts, ground flax, and wheat germ.

Now pour the oatmeal into muffin tins (with liners if you want, or just spray the tins) and bake at 380 degrees for about 20 minutes.This makes a lot, so Katie recommends freezing them. I stuck some in my freezer and have been snacking on the rest all week.

Warning: if you don't like cooked oatmeal, don't make these muffins! Basically they're like mini bowls of oatmeal in muffin form. I happen to be in love with oatmeal, so these were perfect.

Let me know if you try them and what you think! Have a great weekend.

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10 Things.

Here are 10 things to catch you up on my recent life:

1. Discovered that I could use a bit of weight training in my life. Enjoy pretending I have big muscles. Until some big guy shows me I really don't.

2. Went on a family vacation during the first week of the Olympics. Walked around tourist sites all day and tried to stay up late each night watching swimming and gymnastics. Pretended to be Michael Phelps in the hotel pool and discovered I need to spend more time on my arms (See #1).

3. Moved back in with my parents. Both because I enjoy their company AND....

4. Will be starting my master's degree next Monday. Online at the University of Pittsburgh. For Library and Information Science. (more on this later)

5. Preparing to start school again. Trying to resist buying too many new school supplies. Getting excited about studying at a different library near my house (NOT at the one I work at; that's weird).

6. Just finished rereading (rerererererereading?) the Harry Potter series. Read Deathly Hallows as slowly as I possibly could but it still ended. And now I'm not sure what to do with myself.

7. Tried running again. Got sore. Might just run a smidge so my knees don't hate me. Already lusting after new running shoes.

8. Ate a Mediterranean Veggie sandwich at Panera's. Going to attempt to duplicate it. Contemplating becoming a vegetarian....haha yeah RIGHT!

9. Went on an epic 4-hour-long shopping trip with my sister. Only fought once. Maybe twice. Mostly spent the time advising each other on outfits and finishing each other's sentences.

10. Paid about 17 bills all at the same time, including new tires (full story coming soon) and insurance and school and more car things...at least now all is squared away.

So yeah. Things have been crazy.

Hope you all had a nice summer; now it's winding down....booo.



Yeah, probably won't hear any of these things from your doctor. But then, I don't know your doctor. So who can be sure?

Peeking Over the Fence

Sometimes I wonder what I'm missing out on. Is there something more? Is what I have now not good enough? Could I be somewhere better?

I am speaking, of course, of radio stations and tv channels.

I am the worst channel surfer ever. If I'm listening to one song on the radio, a part of me wonders if there's a better song I could be listening to instead. If I'm watching I Love Lucy on TV Land, I'm thinking I should check the Food Network to see if Cupcake Wars is on.

I'm hopeless.

For some reason, I just have trouble sticking with a particular channel. Maybe I'll just run through my options just one more time...see if commercials are over and if something good has come on in the last 20 seconds. I don't want to waste my time here if I could be watching or listening to something INcredible over there!

Just wondering if the grass is greener. It's like when I go out to eat with people and I order something that I feel will be delicious. And then I look over and someone else's food always looks better! And suddenly I am filled with regret.

SOMEbody needs to be grateful with what she has, apparently. And not worry about what's on the other stations.

Instead, I should ROCK OUT to whatever song is on. And ENJOY whichever channel is playing. And RELAX my itchy trigger finger on the radio dial and the tv remote.

Hm...I wonder...should I have written a different blog post today? Perhaps another subject would be more...interesting?

Oh, forget it.

Smoooooooooooooth

So, I'm really into smoothies right now.

I tried to get into smoothies a couple months ago, but they are hard to get down when a person is already cold. I can't barely feel my hands in this stinkin' March weather. Oh well, might as well numb my mouth, too...

Smoothies are an excellent way to eat a lot of fruit. All at once. Without having to chew much. Not that I have trouble chewing or anything. It's just fun to sip smoothies. And mine are usually so thick it's like eating healthy ice cream.

Smoothies are handy too if you have fruit that doesn't taste the best. Like peaches that are hard on one side and mushy on the other. Or strawberries you picked that are a little small and not too sweet.

Just blend it all up, baby.

Here are the fruits (so far) that I've tried in a smoothie. In various combinations:

bananas
strawberries
grapes
peaches
avacados
blueberries

I'll splash a little milk or plain yogurt in there, but I don't add anything else. All natural.

Here's my hot tip: freeze all your fruit. Or at least some of it. I hate blending up ice cubes 'cause they're so hard and difficult. Also they water down a smoothie. If you use frozen fruit, you eliminate these problems. Easier to blend and not watery.

Yum! Sometimes I feel like I use my blender several times a day. It's a pain to wash, but worth it. I've also been using it to blend frozen banana chunks into a kind of ice cream (seriously, it works and is amazing) and to make hummus.

If you don't use your blender that often, I say bring it out and give it a try! You may make a delicious discovery.