Apple Pie Overnight Oats

Apple Pie Overnight Oats

It is no secret I'm in love with my Creamy Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oatmeal. I've been eating it every morning for months, but every now and then it's good to change things up. Fall fruits are my favorite to mix with oats...pumpkin, apples, raisins, cinnamon...its like having dessert for breakfast. I even joked with a friend today that I wake up every morning looking forward to breakfast...like skip the snooze button to get to the fridge and heat up my breakfast look forward to it. Plus, its little gift from heaven when the peanut butter gets all melty and gooey over the top of the oatmeal. Trust me, its amazing. I hope you love these as much as I do. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 large apple, any variety (I prefer Jazz or Fuji)

2 tbsp reduced sugar Craisins or raisins

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 packet of Stevia

¼ tbsp apple pie spice

2/3 cup old fashioned oats, not instant or 5-min oats

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 scoop of Whey protein, vanilla or cinnamon flavor

3/4 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

½ cup cottage cheese, 2 or 4% but not fat-free

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp cinnamon

2-3 tbsp real maple syrup

2 tbsp natural peanut butter or almond butter

*2 servings

Method: 

1   1. Clean and chop apple into small pieces, approximately 1/2 inch cubes .  Warm coconut oil over medium heat and add chopped apple, craisins/ raisins, apple pie spice and stevia.  Cook until apples are softened, but not mushy. Remove from heat and set aside.

2   2. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix well.

3   3.  Divide oat mixture between two air-tight containers, such as mason jars.

4   4.  Top each jar with ½ the cooled apple mixture and refrigerate overnight.

5   5.  In the morning, warm oats for 1 minute and stir well. Microwave for an additional 20-30 seconds and stir again. Top with 1 tbsp of almond butter or peanut butter and enjoy.

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

If you follow me via Instagram, you've probably witnessed firsthand my current obsession with Creamy Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats. I've been eating them for breakfast for so many days in a row now that I don't even post pictures of it anymore.

Breakfast is absolutely my favorite meal of the day. Sadly, so many of the things that come to mind when we think of amazing breakfast foods are not so good for you. These oats give me that "wow, these are delicious" feeling of eating something warm and satisfying without downing a giant-sized calorie-bomb of a cinnamon roll.

In fact, since I don't want to give these up, I've resorted to eating my other favorites as "breakfast" for lunch and "breakfast" for dinner. I remember as a kid thinking it was such a treat when my mom would come home from work and declare it a Breakfast For Dinner night. It's all just food, right? Eggs for dinner aren't really any different than a chicken breast for breakfast if that's really what sounds good, but those were some magic words in my seven-year-old mind. So that being said...feel free to have some overnight oats for dinner tonight!

Here's the recipe:
1/3c Old Fashioned Oats (not quick or instant oats)
1/2 scoop of Cinnamon or Vanilla Whey protein powder (optional, but recommended. I like About Time Cinnamon Swirl)
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1tbsp Chia seeds
1/4c low fat cottage cheese
1/4c unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of choice)
1/4tsp vanilla extract
1/4c pumpkin puree
1-2tbsp Maple sryup or sugar-free maple sryup
(Reserved) 1tbsp natural peanut butter or nut butter of choice (top warm oatmeal with peanut butter just before serving)

Mix all ingredients well in a air-tight container and store in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, remove the lid and microwave for 1 minute. Stir thoroughly and microwave for an additional 30 seconds or until the cottage cheese is melted and oatmeal takes on a creamier texture. Top with peanut butter and chow down.

***Quick disclaimer: If cottage cheese is not your thing, you should still give these a try. Once the oatmeal is warm, you'd never know its in there! It makes these oats creamy and packs a good protein and calcium punch.

I make five servings at a time to last the week. It is just as good the first day as it is the last. Just make sure to choose air-tight containers to keep your oats fresh.

I hope you love this easy, healthy breakfast as much as I do. Its the perfect start to your Fall morning, plus with only 10 minutes of prep involved in making an entire week's worth of healthy breakfasts, you'll have plenty of time left to squeeze in a walk around the block or get a jump start on your meal plan for next week. Enjoy!

Apricot Blueberry Vanilla Mug Cake

Who wants cake? This girl! I  threw this together in about 5 minutes this morning and split it with my daughter. It turned out a lot bigger than I was expecting, so it was plenty for both of us. I topped it with blood orange Chobani but any flavor would work, I think. Now...go have cake for breakfast!

3 tbsp coconut flour

3tbsp egg white sub

3tbsp almond milk

2tbsp plain Greek yogurt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 scoop vanilla whey

1/2 tsp orange extract

1 tbsp apricot jam

15 blueberries

Chobani Blood Orange Greek yogurt for topping

Combined ingredients, Stir 5 berries into mix, spray mug, microwave approximately 2:15, cool a 1 min and dump out on a plate, top with blood orange yogurt and berries. Enjoy!

If your cake starts to overflow the mug just stop the microwave, let cake settle and then continue microwaving for full time. Microwaves vary. You may need to adjust cook time. You cake will also cook more evenly if all the berries aren't clumped at the bottom of the mug. It will taste good, regardless.

Lemonade Muffins

I've spent the last few weeks trying to figure out my eating...make a tweak here and there and try to figure out why my weight loss had...gasp...plateaued. It is that dirty diet word everyone fears. I wasn't exactly surprised it was happening. Inevitably as you have less weight to lose your body needs less calories to do the same amount of work and uses the calories you are feeding it more efficiently. My goal is still to eat a healthy, balanced diet, but like I said before weight loss is still high on my list of motivating factors.

Rather than try to cut calories, I decided to do the opposite and I am so glad I did. I had been eating around 1300 calories. I wasn't starving by any means, but when I took a look at how many calories I was using in my workouts (thanks to the use of a heart rate monitor) it made sense that I could definitely be eating more. And seriously, who doesn't love that? I decided to raise my daily intake 300-500 calories a day and just see how it would go. I fully anticipated a weight gain, but you know what happened? I hit the goal weight I had set for my self back in January and I was able to do it two weeks before my May 1st goal! It was a big accomplishment, not to mention I enjoyed the extra chew time.

The temptation in adding those extra calories for me is to snack all day or eat more "treats" instead of adding more nutritious food to my existing meals. Hello frozen yogurt! Where's the trail mix? In reality those calories really go pretty fast.

Tonight I was really craving bread. Muffins to be exact. I love lemon bars, lemon cake, lemon strudel, lemon danish, lemon bars, lemon cookies...You get it. If its a carb that looks or smells like lemon, I'll probably eat it. I was struggling to come up with a way to get some strong lemon flavor into my protein muffins so I did what any time-starved, shower-needing, 300-extra-calorie eating woman would do. I googled it. There were several options out there with suggestions like grated lemon peel, lemon curd, and so on. Most of those required me to have an actual lemon in my possession. I'm sure you've deciphered all my foreshadowing and figured out I had no such lemon. I did however have pink lemonade Crystal Light drink mix and Mio drink flavoring. I can't technically call this a clean eating recipe, but it was a pretty healthy and tasty addition to our dinner. They would also be a great protein packed way to start your morning. Try finding a muffing with 10 grams of protein and under 120 calories at Starbucks!

These muffins are more dense than regular muffins. I don't want there to be any surprises when you make them. That is the unfortunate reality of most baked goods made with stuff that is good for you. It's funny, but I've almost come to like the density of the "new" pancakes, cookies and muffins I bake better than the "old" kind. Call me crazy.

Anyway, these are really simple. Start my mixing all your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl and then add the wet to the dry and mix well with a whisk.  The batter will be thick.

I love lemon, but if its not your thing this recipe would be easy to adapt to your taste. There are a ton of drink mix flavors. I've seen a blueberry lemonade flavor that would probably be awesome with fresh blueberries added, although I haven't tried adding fruit to these yet.

You can also see from my picture that I prefer to use silicone baking cups for my muffins. I'm sure the paper kind will work fine, but the silicone type are awesome because nothing sticks to those babies.

So here ya go. Happy baking!

Pre-heat oven to 350
Bake time: 15 mim

Recipe:
1 1/4c Whole Wheat Flour or oat flour
3 scoops vanilla whey protein powder
1 "tub" of crystal light pink lemonade (the size that makes a 2qrt pitcher)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c unsweetened apple sause
4 tbsp agave
9 tbsp egg whites (I used the liquid egg whites, not separated egg whites. Its easier)
1/2 tsp Mio lemonade flavor drink mix

Divide into 12 muffin liners and bake. Store extras, if you have any, in an air-tight container or ziploc bag.

Nutritional info based on specific brands/ingredients.
*Different brands may have different nutritional content*
Calories: 116
Fat: 1g
Total Carb: 16g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 10g

Vanilla Protein Pancakes with Blueberry Compote

I like to think that our reformed eating habits don't have to keep us from enjoying the foods we love, but let's face it... often the things that are truly, mind-blowingly delicious are not so good for you. I'm totally picturing this muffin tin cookie thing I keep seeing people post on FB that is something like a pregnant chocolate chip cookie meets brownie. I say pregnant because somehow they managed to squeeze an Oreo cookie in the middle of this thing. Yes, I want to lick my phone when I see that picture.

When I was pregnant with my youngest we ate at Village Inn a lot. By "a lot" I mean the hostess didn't even have to ask how many in our party or if we wanted a table or booth...two waters and a chocolate milk, coming up. I mean, A LOT. I was trying to make good food choices, but you know what tastes really amazing with an egg white omelet and a side of fruit? Pancakes! I still want pancakes, like everyday. But I keep it to a weekend treat for the most part. Substitution is the key to keeping me sane.

This new recipe includes protein powder and I thought they were really good. There is no reason you couldn't top these with real maple syrup, but this blueberry compote was way better in my opinion.

I used our electric griddle this morning. I like to do it that way so we can all sit down to eat together. So if you have one, get it out and set it to 300 degrees. If not, a pan over medium heat works too. Just don't get it too hot. Also these are best served ASAP after you cook them. I was picking the scraps off my kid's plates...and shocker...just not as good cold. This recipe makes about a dozen 4in pancakes, which fed our family of two big eaters and two small eaters perfectly. A four-inch pancake sounds small, but they are filling. And since it's the weekend, you are making (turkey) sausage too, so you'll be fine.

First, get your compote started. Combine blueberries, agave and water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil for a minute or three. Who's counting? Then take a spoon and mash most of the berries. Then just reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until your pancakes are ready.

In a blender combined all the ingredients and blend until smooth. It will be thick. Spray the griddle with non-stick spray or melt a tiny bit of coconut oil and grease the surface. Then ladle the batter out of the blender and let cook until bubbles form. When they are nice and brown, flip'em, stack'em, cover'em with compote and chow down! Yum!

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

I also added a tablespoon of PB2 with cinnamon to the top of these. It was so good! If you don't have PB2 (get some) but any nut butter will be tasty.

Recipe for Compote:
1c fresh blueberries
1 tbsp agave (or honey)
3 tbsp water
(Optional 2 tbsp PB2, 1 tbsp water, a few shakes of cinnamon)

Recipe for pancakes:
1 c old fashioned oats
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/2 c plain non fat Greek yogurt
2 tbsp vanilla almond milk (or other milk)

I couldn't resist...Her is our daughter's favorite version:

The Piggy Pancake

Fruit & Yogurt Breakfast Protein Bowl

My daughter picked out my bowl this morning...fairy princess bowls make it taste better, right? Yeah, I think so too.

I had this today before my workout and it was just what I needed before a run & weight lifting class. Plus, it's quick and easy!

- 1/2 c plain fat-free Greek yogurt
- 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1/3 c strawberries
- 1/4 c blueberries
- 1/4 c Fiber One Honey Squares

Mix yogurt and protein powder well, then add berries and top with cereal.

Antioxidant Berry Chia Smoothie

The color of this smoothie couldn't be much worse, but it tasted great.

Recipe:
8oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1.5c baby spinach
1c Dole antioxidant blend frozen berries
1/2 scoop vanilla whey
1tbsp chia seeds

Blend well on liquify setting.

It is Yum! There will be a slight seedy texture from the berries and chia seeds, but it didn't bother me. This was a nice and thick, but if you prefer a thinner smoothie just add a few more ounces of milk.

Enjoy!

So really, what do you eat?

I've gotten quite a few questions about what it is that I actually eat day in and day out. I'll (hopefully) be giving you lots of good dinner options, but in reality my breakfasts and lunches are pretty set. I've found a line up that works for me. They are my go-to meals that keep me full, give me the energy to keep a strong workout schedule, chase my kiddos and still taste good.

For breakfast, I'm a huge fan of overnight oats. This is the single easiest breakfast I can think of short of hitting the Starbucks drive-thru. Not that my car doesn't occasionally find it's way to a drive-thru window, but what I usually find is that after the joy of that sweet, syurp-flavored sausage goodness is gone I kinda feel like crap. Not like "whoa wish I hadn't eaten something so bad for me," but literally do not feel well.

These on-the-go oats take a maximum of five minutes to prep before bed and are ready when you wake up. The options are limitless... I'm giving you the recipe for the photo below, but you could add anything by starting with a base of oats and the milk of your choice. I think Greek yogurt is a necessary part of the base oat mix, but I realize not everyone likes it as much as I do. Some great options are any flavor of extract, nuts, almond butter, PB2, 100% pumpkin and pumpkin pie-spice, apples, granola, coconut--the options are endless.

Put all the ingredients in a container...now the tough part...stir it up! Then put an lid on it and refrigerate it overnight.

Cinnamon Maple Overnight Oats with Fresh Berries
1/4 c Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 c Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk or Milk of choice
1/4 c Plain Greek Yogurt
1/4 tsp Maple Extract or 1 tsp Real Maple Syrup
1 tbsp chia seeds
2-3 dashes of Cinnamon
1 packet Stevia
Topping- can be added in the morning or the night before
1/4 c strawberries
1/4 c blueberries

My other go-to breakfast is a Spinach Protein Smoothie. I pretty much always start with 8oz of almond milk, a huge handful of baby spinach, ice and then either a scoop of whey protein powder or a 1/2c of Greek yogurt....both if I'm just feeling crazy. From here, again, it is really up to your personal preference. Any nut butter (or PB2) is an easy and high-protein choice. To keep the calories and fat down I often opt for frozen (no sugar added/ unsweetened) frozen peaches, strawberries or mixed berries. Fresh fruit is a perfect choice. If it's in season...throw it in there! These are filling and I think when mixed with the protein powder, they really taste more like a milk shake than a smoothie. And let's face it, I'm all for anything that tastes like dessert no matter what time of day it is. As a bonus, I can even get my four year old to drink these. She calls them "monster smoothies." She is a picky eater so whatever she wants to call it, I'm just excited she's drinking it.

Spinach Protein Smoothie
8oz Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk or Milk of your choice
1/2 c Greek yogurt or 1 scoop vanilla or chocolate protein powder
1 huge handful of baby spinach
1/2 c ice
1/2 c frozen peaches
1/2 c frozen strawberries 


On days when we have plenty of time in the morning I love a good scramble. This is one of my favorites. It's a simple mix of eggs (or egg whites), cheddar cheese, zucchini, a little salt and pepper and a side of salsa. On the morning I took this picture I had made some zucchini chips. They weren't so good, but I'm not one to throw my experiments out, so on the plate they went.  I suggest sauteing your zucchini in the pan for a few minutes to soften it up a little before adding the eggs and cheese.

Lastly, I'm a big fan of pancakes and waffles on the weekends. When I was much more serious about limiting my carb intake these were a huge treat for me. I can't take credit for this recipe, but I do think its a good one as evident by the fact that I couldn't control myself long enough to take a proper picture before I dug in. Anyhow, this batter can be used to make either pancakes or waffles and it's pretty tasty. Throw a little fresh fruit on top and you've got a really good breakfast.

I feel it only right to warn you...these pancakes are not the inch-thick, light as air, from a mix pancakes we all know and love. They will be more dense, but they are good and eating healthy feels good so feel good about eating these waffles and ignore the denseness! See the recipe here. You'll notice the recipe says you can use cottage cheese or tofu. I've made it both ways. My personal preference is totally the cottage cheese. I also think they are better without the nutmeg. If you like your pancakes and waffles pretty sweet, add in a packet or two of Stevia and enjoy.

When it comes to lunch, you'll pretty much always see the same thing on my plate: protein, complex carbs, and veggies. I prep all my lunches for the week on Sunday night. It sounds like a tall order, especially when the kids need a bath or the laundry isn't washing itself, but taking these few minutes is what keeps me on track during the week. If I get the chicken in the oven right before I start the kid's bath the timing is just about perfect...kids in bed just about the time the chicken is done.

Before I got serious about preparing my meals for the week, I was having a rough time. By the time I worked out, got the kids home and made them lunch, then put the baby down for a nap---I would realize I was starving but couldn't find anything I wanted to eat---I was "hangry." You know, angry as a result of being hungry. Prepping my lunches keeps me from reaching that point and from reaching for the closest thing, be it Chick-fil-a or the bag of goldfish. Plus, it lets me sit down with the girls and enjoy a meal with them, which I love.

My usual protein of choice is chicken for a few reasons. 1) It's super easy to make and 2) You can make it taste different just by choosing different seasonings. Right now I'm loving a drizzle of olive oil and McCormicks "Perfect Pinch" Vegetable flavor. For a regular package of 2-3 chicken breasts, I find 40 minutes at 400 degrees is perfect. I also always line my pans with foil. It keeps clean up simple.

My carb choices are pretty standard as well. It is usually 1/2 a baked sweet potato, 1/2c  brown rice, or 1/2c quinoa. This week I had some little cheesy sausage quinoa muffins leftover from dinner so that will be my carb a few days this week. I'll share that recipe later this week. Remember: your  carbs don't have to be boring. Spice them up, use chicken stock instead of water to give them more flavor, add diced veggies or a little Parmesan cheese...

For vegetables I usually opt for broccoli, green beans, or a veggie blend of zucchini and squash. We're all busy and if something saves you a few minutes, all the better. That is why I often eat steam in the bag vegetables for lunch. I think they are better if you reduce the cooking time by 1-2 minutes when you initially cook them. It helps them not be mush by the time you re-heat your meal. Here is what my lunches look like this week.

Lastly, I'll just put it out there. As weird as I felt doing it the first time, I have taken my own food into several fast food restaurants. Occasionally a play date comes up for my daughter and I am left deciding if people are going to think I am a complete weirdo for showing up with my little Thermos of chicken, but you know what? I've decided I don't really care. This is a priority for me. Weirdo, table for one!

Got questions? Comments? Let me know. I'd love to hear from you!