Yummy Granola Balls

Granola Balls

so yummy and simple and not too bad for you!

Evan and I have been enjoying these for a few weeks now, after one of my friends made them and got addicted! They are easy to whip up and the ingredients are simple. Plus they are actually pretty low calorie! Just don't eat too many of them at a time (:

not very many ingredients

melt peanut butter, butter and honey until smooth

add oats and rice crispies.. let set a few minutes before adding chocolate chips and dried cranberries

drop rounded tablespoons into mini muffin liners, refrigerate for 15 minutes

and they are adorable!

Ingredients

1/3 cup honey (I use just a little less than a 1/3.. the honey is kinda overpowering)

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tbs butter

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup rice crispies cereal

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chocolate chips

(I use more like 1/3 of the cranberries and chocolate chips... they just don't spread very far)

In medium sauce pan melt honey, butter, and peanut butter until smooth. Off heat mix in cereal, oats, and cranberries. Let it set a couple of minutes before adding chocolate chips. Spoon by rounded tablespoon into mini muffin liners and put in the refrigerator about 15 minutes.

I use a little ice cream scoop that looks about the size of a tablespoon and it makes about 25 granola balls. I store them in the refrigerator, they seem to soften at room temp. I hope you enjoy!

source:www.twopeasintheirpod.com/

Santa Fe Salad with Chili Lime Dressing

I got pretty excited when I found this recipe on pinterest... when I said I was making salad for dinner last night Evan was like "SALAD!?!?" Even though he does like salad and eats it a lot for lunch. He ended up really liking the salad. It is a weight watchers recipe so I will have to share it with my mom since she just started weigh watchers last week. She also eats salad a lot but gets kinda bored with it. I think chicken or taco meat could be added to make it more of a meal type of salad... I needed to eat light because of other things I had throughout the day.

cilantro and lime... such a great pair!

dressing and all the fixin's!

all tossed together except for the dressing... I'll add that each time I eat it.

it makes a whole lot! now I'll have it for lunch all week (:

dressed and served with ice tea!

*side note: the recipe calls for light mayo... and I thought I might add sour cream next time, maybe half mayo and half sour cream

Ingredients

	6 Tbsp reduced-calorie mayonnaise
	3 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, finely chopped
	3 Tbsp water
	1 medium uncooked scallion(s), minced
	1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
	2 tsp sugar
	1/2 tsp chili powder
	15 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
	1 1/2 cup(s) cooked corn kernels, fresh or frozen
	2 cup(s) grape tomatoes
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), cut into thin strips (about 1 1/2 cups)
	8 cup(s) romaine lettuce, cut into thick shreds (about 2 hearts)

Instructions

• To make dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, cilantro, water, scallion, lime juice, sugar and chili powder until smooth. Transfer to a jar or a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate until ready to use.
  
• In a large bowl or food storage container, layer remaining ingredients in order listed; cover and refrigerate.
  
• To serve, spoon salad ingredients into a bowl. Shake dressing and then drizzle dressing over salad; toss well to coat. Yields about 2 cups of salad and 1 1/2 tablespoons of dressing per serving.

http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/RecipePage.aspx?recipeid=94061

Peanut Butter (Healthy) Treats

This post is definitely for peanut butter lovers!

I pinned this fruity peanut butter dip last week and it was repinned so many times! I knew I had to try it!

It's so yummy! For people that love peanut butter and if you love it on fruit give this a try!

And it's simple!

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup fruit flavored yogurt

1/4 cup powdered sugar

mix until smooth!

and there's a nice breakfast... I have no idea how many calories so I just dipped very little on each piece of fruit!

from: http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/ (I just love this blog!)

Evan and I love sweets... so we have to have something sweet around and since we are trying to be healthy I have been making things that aren't as bad for us to snack on! Evan also loves peanut butter, so I can put that in anything that's a little better and he'll eat it up!

I made these peanut butter cookies that have no flour and no butter! They are pretty tasty, chewy and sweet! Hopefully they are a little better than regular cookies!

mix all ingredients together by hand... the spatula is there because Evan had to scrape everything off my hands!

place by spoonful (give them some room - I usually bake 12 cookies at a time, but these spread out a lot) onto a greased baking sheet... they stick - use parchment paper... I didn't have any but I usually use it while baking!

bake for about ten minutes just watch them towards the end, depending on the size it could be more or less

Evan has already declared these his new favorite cookie (:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup extra chunky peanut butter
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well by hand. Refrigerate dough while pre-heating oven to 350 degrees. Place spoonfuls of  dough onto greased cookie sheets, leaving plenty of room in between cookies. The cookies tend to spread out quite a bit while cooking. Bake to desired crispiness (10-12 minutes).
http://www.andruswilliams.com/2011/01/26/peanut-butter-oatmeal-cookies/

Beefy Deep Dish Pizza... actually a healthy recipe

Super Easy... Yummy... and Healthy Beefy Deep Dish Pizza!

just four simple ingredients

 you can add anything else you like.. I'm just showing how simple it is on it's own!

grease a 9x13 baking dish and spread pizza dough over the bottom of the dish and halfway up the side. bake in the oven at 425 for about 7 minutes

brown one pound of ground beef while the pizza dough is baking

the recipe doesn't call for it, but I always season meat with salt & pepper!

drain the meat, then add 1 1/2 cups of your favorite pasta sauce, mix, add to the pizza crust, top with mozzarella cheese. bake for 8 more minutes!

it's that easy!

 enjoy!

the recipe is adapted from http://www.momswhothink.com/healthy-recipes/healthy-dinner-recipes-week-one.html

I didn't rinse the meat and put it out on paper towels.. just drained it. I used lean beef (97/3) and it usually doesn't have much fat. I have heard from a nutritionist that if you rinse beef that is 80/20 it's almost just as good for you as the 97/3.

Deep Dish Pizza:

Makes 6 Servings

Each serving contains:

385 calories
22g protein
22g carbohydrate
20g total fat

Ingredients:

1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 pound ground beef
1 ½ cups jarred low-sodium, sugar free, spicy mushroom pasta sauce
1 ¼ cups (4 ounces) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Unroll the pizza dough, press it over the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared dish, and bake for 7 minutes.

3 .While the crust bakes, sauté the beef in a large skillet until browned, breaking the meat up into small pieces using a wooden spoon.

4. Drain the meat in a colander, rinse with hot water, and shake the colander to drain out as much water as possible.

5. Turn out the meat onto a paper towel-lined baking sheet and roll up the meat in the towel to blot up any moisture.

6. Pour the meat into a bowl, add the sauce, and toss to mix.

7. Spread the meat over the crust and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake until the crust is browned and the cheese melts, about 8 minutes longer.