Tag Archives: chocolate

5 Newbies

by | 11 Comments

Just as I thought…breakfast has gone back to the sweet side.

For two days in a row I’ve been eating:

1 barbaras shredded wheat puff + 1 weetabix + 1 chocolate pb muffin + 1 serving true vitality chocolate protein powder + unsweetened almond milk + 1 T peanut flour

Did you know that weetabix in the US is distributed by Barbara’s bakery?? I’ve been eating it for years and I JUST realized it! No wonder I like it so much. Barbara has great taste :)

And theres a chocolate flavor?? – why have I not been aware of this?

I learn something new everyday.

Speaking of new…I love trying new things, and recently I’ve come across quite the smorgasbord of new things. Some that I love, some not so much.

1) endangered species chocolate

I came across this sweet treat at Whole Foods. Usually I don’t really eat the items they put out for you to taste, but since it was free chocolate I kind of just had to. Plus it was in a wrapper. I’ll be the first to admit it – I’m a total germaphobe. Who know’s where people hands have been when they reach into those sample bins of fruit and chips??

I now have a whole bag of these chocolates on my kitchen counter.
That’s how good they are! They have them in actual bars size too and I really want to try the golden berry and lucuma bar, but the individually packaged ones are good for passing out on Halloween…and for me to practice single-serving self control. ;)

And for those of you who are vegan or gluten free, you can eat them too! They’re all certified vegan and gluten free.

2) Multi-Green kombucha

Ok, so I’m not new to kombucha, but this is a new to me flavor.

 I’m not really sure why I never tried it, but I actually like this one a lot more than a couple of the other ones I’ve tried. It’s not as sweet and it’s the first one that didn’t explode on me in a while.

3) Tera’s Whey

I’ll admit it. I got suckered into buying this partly because of the packaging. It looks good, right? And for $4 bucks an ounce, it better be good!

The verdict?
belch.  Not a fan at all.

I guess I just can’t get over the taste of stevia.
I should’ve known since I’m not a fan of Jay Robb’s or Sunwarriors powders, since they both contain stevia of some sort, but of course I didn’t learn my lesson the first two times.

3rd times the charm? Lets hope the lesson has been learned here – No more stevia protein powders for me.

4) Spiru-Tein

After being unable to find my favorite protein powder multiple times (how many times can one protein powder be sold out?), I settled for this one. It’s quite similar in taste. A little sweeter maybe? I guess it’s nice to change it up every once in a while though.

But yesterday I went to WF’s again and guess what I found after a month of searching??

Last one on the shelf. So of course I had to buy it!

Spiru-tein may have just earned a spot on the back shelf for a while…

5) kiwi berries

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I bit into one, but I was legitimately surprised to see that it looks exactly the same as a kiwi on the inside!

Just a miniature version.

And it tastes just as it sounds – like a kiwi mixed with a berry.
Let’s just hope I’m not allergic to these since I’m allergic to actual green kiwis.

Now it’s your turn! – Have you tried anything new lately?

It’s Been A While

by | 10 Comments

You know it’s been a while since you last baked something when you can’t unscrew the cap to your vanilla extract.

It’s been a couple busy days around here since my last post, but I’ve managed to squeeze in some bake time.

I got home early Tuesday morning, took the day to regroup & reorganize, then early morning Wednesday I went to Cali to visit my grandpa for the day and made it home just before midnight.

Then I spent yesterday studying for midterms and making some funfetti cake pops cake balls for my sister’s golf team. They were supposed to be on sticks, but for some reason they wouldn’t stay on the stick when I was dipping them.

They’ll still taste the same though!

I don’t use box cake mixes all that often, but since funfetti is my sister’s favorite I made an exception.

Plus, it’s so pretty. Even when it’s all crumbled up.

Confession: as processed and sugar laden as it is, cake mix tastes pretty darn good.

After dipping the cake balls into chocolate, I decorated them with Halloween colored sprinkles because Halloween is just around the corner! Who’s excited??


I love Halloween and seeing all the decorations and everyone’s costumes! Some people can be so so creative. When I was a kid there were some pretty fun houses in my neighborhood to go trick-or-treating at. Some of them even made their own haunted houses! Now, I’m content with just passing out candy. It’s my favorite part :)

Today, I managed to sneak in a quick break to bake some muffins.

I baked up some chocolate peanut butter muffins following Kabocha Fashionista’s recipe for her Chococonut Muffins.

The only adaptations I made were:
Peanut flour in place of coconut flour, since I didn’t have any coconut flour, and I reduced the maple syrup content by a little bit and replaced it with more almond milk.

These muffins are so gooood!

I’m still loving muffins. Not over that phase yet.

Something that has been unusual lately though is my breakfast. It’s been more on the savory side. If you don’t count the fruit plate I usually have on the side.

It’s been alllll about the eggs lately. Poached eggs, to be exact.

I think I’ve pretty much got the whole poaching process down pat. I actually think it’s the easiest (and quickest) way to cook eggs.

I have a feeling breakfast will soon be heading back to the sweet side though. Especially now that I have some pb chocolate muffins on hand :P

Are you dressing up for Halloween this year?
What’s your favorite way to eat eggs? 


Chocolate Heaven

by | 12 Comments

I’m glad you all enjoyed reading about my 5 ingredient crispies!

This morning I went to chocolate heaven.

All thanks to this little guy…

Into my blender went:

  • 1 packet of true vitality chocolate protein powder
  • ~ 1.25 cups unsweetened chocolate almond milk
  • 5 frozen unsweetened chocolate almond milk cubes
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1 T espresso

It was SO chocolaty delicious I never wanted it to end. But then it did.

It’s okay, we’ll meet again tomorrow :)

On a not so chocolaty note…I have a confession.

I’ve been feeling a little guilty for neglecting Barbara lately, but I’ve recently found a new love.

Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes. They’re crunchy and have just the right amount of sweetness making them oh so perfect to munch on any time of the day.

I’m pretty sure you can tell I’m quite enamored with cereal, but did you know I used to never eat cereal?  As in, I didn’t eat a lick of it for a good 5 or so years.

I somehow had it engraved in my mind that ALL cereal was bad for you and shouldn’t be touched. And now I realize that is the wrong mindset. There are still many cereals out there that are loaded with sugar that I still wouldn’t touch, but there are also whole grain cereals that are packed with nutrients.

I’m not positive where I got that idea from, but I want to say it came from this:

This my friends, is a book I do not recommend reading.

I read it many years ago, and I actually don’t think I ever finished it, but the book puts ideas into your mind that I now believe to be quite untrue.

Not the entire book is bad, but it is a book that needs to be read with an open mind and absorbed sparingly.  He makes great points about how many peoples diets lack fruits and vegetables, but he also doesn’t tread lightly on certain matter such as oils and how they are ALL bad for us no matter what.

All in all, I just feel that this book may lead to unbalanced diets that are much too restrictive, which could in turn back fire in the long run.

How did I get from talking about neglecting Barbara to Joel Fuhrman?

Well, I’m just glad that cereals eventually found their way back into my life :)

What’s your favorite cereal?

Any good recommendations for health books?