Friday Bowl- Toasted Marshmallow

Happy National Toasted Marshmallow Day.

Everyone loves sitting around a campfire with a stick and a marshmallow. Dipping the sugar pillow in the fire just enough to char the outside creating a unique taste with a melted gooey center. If you have never done this. You must do it!

This morning I did not build a fire to create this yogurt bowl. I just chard the marshmallow over the flames of my gas stove. The marshmallows cut easy with a spoon so I was able to get a piece of the flavor with every bite. I was a little iffy about the flavors this would create but to my surprise, the combination of the plain yogurt, sweet marshmallow and crisp topping was delightful and for just a moment I felt like I was sitting by the campfire.

Toasted Marshmallow Yogurt Bowl

1/2 Cup- Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt
2 Toasted Marshmallows
2 Lotus Biscoff Cookies

185 Calories- 13 g  Protein

🍓🍌🍉🍊🍒🍏🍅🍈

I have decided to reserve each Friday to share some of my creative food bowls. I have been eating these at least 4 times a week and I feel great. They are easy, healthy and fun. This is part of my new "Clean Eating" Plan. Wish me Luck.

Friday Bowl - Apple Cinnamon

They say, "An apple a day will keep the doctor away". I have always believed this but have not been eating enough apples lately. I just always felt like they are full of sugar. Then I realized that it contains natural sugar which includes fructose. Fructose is not harmful when it comes to fruit. With this bowl I found a new way to enjoy apples and plan to add them more to my diet.

After I took a photo of this bowl, I swirled in the cinnamon and mixed the apples around. I loved the two flavors together and the granola added that extra crunch. I closed my eyes and pretended I was eating apple pie.

Apple Cinnamon Yogurt Bowl

2/3 Cup -Fage 2% Plain Greek Yogurt

1/4 Apple

2 Teaspoon- Cinnamon

2 Tablespoon- Oat& Honey Granola

179 Calories- 17 g Protein

🍓🍌🍉🍊🍒🍏🍅🍈

I have decided to reserve each Friday to share some of my creative food bowls. I have been eating these at least 4 times a week and I feel great. They are easy, healthy and fun. This is part of my new "Clean Eating" Plan. Wish me Luck.

Friday Bowl- Blue Butterfly

I could hardly wait to share this bowl creation with you today. I am not a fan of artificial coloring so I was excited to find some 100% natural food coloring. The blue color comes from Butterfly Pea Flower. The flowers are dried and turned into a powder. It's tasteless and can be added to any food or drink. 

Not only did it add some fun color to this yogurt bowl but it has some great health benefits such as, boost brain health, boost immune system, great for skin and eyes, enhances mood and vitality and stabilizes blood pressure. 

And then there is all the other good stuff thrown in to make this breakfast bowl a win for the day. 

I purchased my Suncore Brand blue butterfly pea flower powder from luckyvitamin.com.

Blue Butterfly Yogurt Bowl

2/3 Cup- Fage 0% Total Greek Yogurt

2 Tablespoons- Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
 2 Tablespoons- 100 % Natural Bear Naked Granola
10- Blueberries
1 Teaspoon- Blue Butterfly Pea Flower Powder

202 Calories- 19 g Protein

🍓🍌🍉🍊🍒🍏🍅🍈

I have decided to reserve each Friday to share some of my creative food bowls. I have been eating these at least 3 times a week and I feel great. They are easy, healthy and fun. This is part of my new "Clean Eating" Plan. Wish me Luck.

Friday Bowl- Extra Protein

I do a lot of walking while I'm here at the beach. So I knew I would need a little extra protein for breakfast for extra energy and also so I don't get hungry before lunch time. This yogurt bowl is loaded with protein for the save. Sometimes it’s hard to make a tablespoon of peanut butter go a long way. The trick is to melt it in the microwave for about 20 seconds and drizzle away. 

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Bowl

1 Cup- Fage 0% Plain Greek Yogurt

2 Tablespoon- Oat& Honey Granola

1/2 Banana

1 Tablespoon- Jif Natural Peanut Butter (melted)

Honey Drizzle

303 Calories- 27 g Protein

🍓🍌🍉🍊🍒🍏🍅🍈

I have decided to reserve each Friday to share some of my creative food bowls. I have been eating these at least 4 times a week and I feel great. They are easy, healthy and fun. This is part of my new "Clean Eating" Plan. Wish me Luck.

Three Ingredient Pancakes

Happy Monday. I am on vacation this week so It really is a happy Monday for me.

Today I would like to share with you these delicious Banana Pancakes I made using only 3 ingredients. 

I love pancakes and waffles, but they can wreck my diet, so I am delighted to have found this healthier option and they are oh so good. You may have heard of two ingredient pancakes which consist of only banana and egg. I have tried them before and they came out flat and gooey. Sorry but that is below my healthy plan. 

You have to add a tad of flour to make these babies fluff. 

Three Ingredient Pancakes

265 Calories, 50 carbs, 10 Protein.

1 Egg
1 Ripe Banana
1/4 Cup self rising flour. 

Mix well and pour into sprayed frying pan. Cook on med/low until it starts to bubble then flip.

These pancakes are good alone or topped with your favorite topping. (Go ahead, no one is judging). 

I used zero calorie spray butter and sugar free syrup. I added a few blueberries just to make them pretty.

This recipe makes 2 large pancakes but I made 4 small ones so I could share one with Nick. He gave it a thumbs up. The inspired recipe with larger serving size can be found HERE.

Friday Bowl- Desert Vibes

I said "Desert" not "Dessert" but its hard to tell the difference with this delicious breakfast bowl. Just look how cute the little desert inspired cactus are.

As I stumbled into the kitchen for a nice warm cup of "decaf" coffee (yes I just made the switch), I was feeling a little sluggish and knew I wanted more than yogurt this morning, so I opt for this oatmeal bowl that filled my tummy and gave me the energy I needed to get through the morning.

Desert Vibe -Oatmeal Bowl

1/2 Cup -Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal 

1/4 Kiwi

1- Medium Strawberry
1 Teaspoon- Honey

1 Tablespoon- Mixed Seeds and Nuts

186 Calories- 6 g Protein

🍓🍌🍉🍊🍒🍏🍅🍈

I have decided to reserve each Friday to share some of my creative food bowls. I have been eating these at least 4 times a week and I feel great. They are easy, healthy and fun. This is part of my new "Clean Eating" Plan. Wish me Luck.

Breakfast and a SeeSaw

Saturday we spent the morning visiting my daughter in the queen city. She wanted to take us out to breakfast and a little walk around the area.

Her boyfriend came along too. He is a joy to be around. We parked at her uptown apartment and walked 2 miles to a little place called Roots Cafe. 

Me and Nick just wanted something lite so we ordered a side of avocado toast. 

They messed up and gave us the whole meal plate which included 2 eggs on the side. I was ok with that as I love eggs and ended up cleaning my plate. 

We also shared a Latke with Poblano Cream Crema & green onions. It was a type of potato cake and was delicious. 

Afterward we walked down to a new doughnut shop tucked away in the back of a building called PepperBox Doughnuts. They offer different varieties of doughnuts each week. I chose the “Elvis”.

It was topped with a banana cream with a drizzle of peanut butter and topped with bacon. I only took two bites and I was finished. I’m trying to keep away from the sweets. But I just couldn't resist. 

My daughter ordered the Hibiscus Jelly filled. Hers was much better than mine. It tasted like real fruit and topped with sugar crystals.

While we were headed back, we came across a see-saw next to the lightrail and I had to jump on. 

We laughed and giggled like two little kids on a playground. I didn’t care who was watching. 

You can see her boyfriend sitting there probably thinking his girlfriend has a crazy mom. Haha.

It’s always fun to visit my daughter. Later we headed to my mom and dads to celebrate my oldest brothers 55th birthday. We had some good food, cake and laughs to finish off the night. 

Clovers

I’m trying to get my thoughts together so I can be ready to celebrate St.Patricks Day. This is when we usually take our first beach trip of the season but with all the rain we have been having, we decided to wait a week.

I had my nails painted green for St.Patricks Day and now Im looking for a green shirt. This is the only time of the year you will see me wearing green. For some reason, when I wear green, I am grumpy and hateful all day. I just do not know what it is that does that. I can wear an olive or army green and I’m fine but I have to avoid the greeny greens. 

March is when we see most of the weeds taking over the yard letting us know its time to start the lawn mowing. 

Speaking of weeds, our yard is full of clovers. This brings back memories of when I was young. All the girl friends would sit for hours combing through clover patches trying to find a four leaf clover. If we were lucky we would find a few. The odd to finding one is 10,000 to 1. 

It was always fun. Even now, when we go out for a walk, sometimes I get left behind while I squat down to a patch of big fat clovers. I have not had much luck latley finding one. I read over at Andreas blog that her grandmother left behind 238 four leaf clovers she had found during her life. 133 of those were found pressed in her Bible. Isn't that just the sweetest thing? She has a cute little post about it HERE. 

I made some green eggs and ham muffins this morning for breakfast and will have my traditional bowl of Lucky Charms Cereal on St. Patricks Morning. 

For the muffins, I place deli ham inside muffin cups, filled with egg and cheese and baked for 20 minutes. The topping is smashed avocado. This was so delicious. Each cup is about 80 calories and has 9 grams of protein. 

My daughter and her boyfriend will be coming over for dinner on Sunday. We will be having Cornbeef Brisket, Cabbage Steaks and Taters. I still have to decide on a little dessert. I may just pick up some cupcakes from a deli. 

What are your plans for St. Patricks Day?

(Pictured above)Recycled Burlap Rice Bag and more can be found Ricelove.org.

Use Code: LILIDI_MEO and get 20% off any item.

Protein Crepes

I'm always playing around in the kitchen looking for new things to eat that fit into my diet. Foods low in calories and high in protein are what I look for.

I found a recipe for making crepes and and thought I'd give it a try. I have never eaten a crepe before but I am familiar with what they are. Crepes are basically very then pancakes rolled around a filling. You can make them sweet or savory. I made them sweet. I also made them using Nutrisystem Vanilla Protein shake mix. You can use any protein powder but I just so happened to have Nutrisystem brand laying around. Go figure that.

I wasn't sure what type of filling would work for the inside so I picked out two of my favorite things from the fridge. Cool Whip and Cream Cheese! Yea baby!

I made the filling the night before. It consisted of  8 oz cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar free Cool Whip. I mixed the cream cheese alone first. This is important so you do not have lumps. (I learned this the hard way while making a tart last year). Once the cream cheese is smooth, mix in the Cool Whip and store in the fridge until ready to use. I suppose you can mix in flavors such as lemon or honey but I left mine plain. I just wanted a sweet creamy filling.

When the morning came, I was ready to make my very first crepes.
The crepes were easy to mix and only consist of two ingredients.
I mixed together 1/2 cup of egg whites and a serving of vanilla protein shake mix to form a thin batter.

I poured a small amount of batter in a heated skillet and spooned it around a little to spread it out into thin pancakes. Flipping them was the hard part. This made about six crepes. Mine are not that pretty but, HEY! It was my first time.

Once each crepe was made I rolled them around a layer of cream cheese filling and added some blueberries. I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top just to make them more pretty and devoured them in no time. 

They were absolutely the best thing ever! The vanilla protein mix made the crepes a little sweeter than a waffle but not quite as sweet as a doughnut. They were perfect. Nick even gave them two thumbs up.

You can find several recipes for crepes online but this one was the easiest for me as the vanilla flavor was already in there.

Best of all, they were rather healthy, sugar free and full of protein.