YO! I posted a granola recipe a few days ago and then I made it again and it came out better the second time after I tweaked some things!  But first, happy Thursday! We're almost to the weekend. Almost there. I feel like this week just flew by insanely fast and last week was the total opposite. I think because last week I was just exhausted! On Saturday after work I just passed the hell out for about three hours and I feel like those three hours caught me up for the entire week ahead. Is that possible?? 

Anyway, I've been loving this granola recipe and I wanted to stress just how EASY it is to make this and other snacks to have on hand. I have a few clients at work who have been asking about nutrition lately, and the biggest thing I've noticed is that there's a general lack of knowledge about really how easy it is to meal prep a bit to avoid eating packaged shit. You guys, it's SO EASY! Just don't be lazy. Take a couple hours on Sunday and make a bunch of food. That's it. No need to get all crazy and measure out every little ounce into tupperware, just make a big batch of the foods you love so that you have them ready for the week to grab when you need! 

Meals

Carb sources: Rice and sweet potatoes. Rice takes like 15 minutes to make. Poke some sweet potatoes with holes, wrap in tin foil and bake for an hour. BAM you have healthy, already cooked complex carbs for the week! 

Protein sources: Chicken, fish, ground turkey. Bake your chickens and fishies and/or sauté a package of ground turkey. Easy! 

Veggies: Chop some raw vegetables for snacking A.K.A celery, carrots, peppers. Roast a big pan of vegetables (great combo = brussels sprouts, peppers, mushrooms) and then keep in the fridge for the week. 

Snacks

Chopped raw veggies, hard boiled eggs, homemade granola (see below :) ) , homemade protein bars or bites, fresh fruit with plain greek yogurt...the list goes on! 

So please stop spending a ton of money on fancy protein bars and high-end, organic granola when you can make it yourself. Look how delicious it looks! And it is! 

One step in making this granola is major key. When you take the granola out of the oven to cool, scatter a few chocolate chips on top. They will melt and when you mix it all up to transfer to a container, the chocolate will harden and make little chocolate clusters. MAJOR KEY. This morning I topped it on some FlapJacked protein pancakes for some crunch...

[yumprint-recipe id='22']

If you like this recipe, pin it for later! 

Happy Monday! I'm especially chipper this morning. I taught my 6 a.m. spin class this morning and I'm off to work (for a very long day) but this is my last full week of work before I get to go home to Florida for a much needed little break. I cannot wait to get back to the sunny 85 degree weather (although this weekend in Philly was warm!!) and spend a lot of time with the family. 

This past weekend was great - I didn't get home until around 7:30 on Friday night and had zero energy to do anything, but I woke up refreshed on Saturday morning. I taught a great Super Circuits class at Sweat Fitness, ran some errands, baked and relaxed. My ideal Saturday. Saturday night Michael and I went to a Christmas party with a lot of his Men's Health co-workers. A little too much alcohol, pizza and chips called for a very lazy Sunday, which I had no problem with :)

So Rachel from athleticavocado.com put together an Epic Roundup of Healthy Gingerbread Recipes where I found this amazing Pear Gingerbread recipe made by Lindsay from theleangreenbean.com! I just had to make it. I used Lindsay's recipe as a guide, but I did have to adapt it because I do not have a loaf pan in my new apartment yet, I didn't have any white whole wheat flour on hand (aka Lindsay's recipe is a tad healthier) and I didn't have any pears. SO, I worked with what I had to create these Apple Gingerbread Muffins. They came out incredible, so I bet that Lindsay's Pear Gingerbread recipe is out of this world. 

[yumprint-recipe id='10'] I LOVE these. I've never been one to use ginger a whole lot in my baking  and cooking, but it adds SO much flavor. It will definitely become a staple from now on! This recipe is very easy to throw together, and the yogurt icing is so delicious! I used plain greek yogurt, some powdered sugar and some vanilla extract. 

Have a wonderful day! Thank you, Lindsay for the awesome recipe inspiration!

XO- Rach

Do you know how certain flavors, tastes or smells can bring you back to a certain place or time in your life? Basil pesto does that for me. It kind of brings me right back to Italy, but only the homemade kind. There's just something about fresh basil blended with parmesan and olive oil. YUM it's so good. I whipped up a batch this morning to use for dinner. Michael and I picked up some salmon on Sunday and I couldn't wait to make it with fresh basil pesto. I've found that my favorite nuts to use in homemade pesto are walnuts. I've tried it with pistachios, pine nuts and even cashews, and walnuts seem to give it my favorite consistency.

Here's what you need: 

• Large handful of fresh basil
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• S & P to taste
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain greek yogurt (added for creaminess factor)
• Small squeeze fresh lemon juice
• Some sort of food processor or powerful blender

Here's what to do: 

• Blend!

All I did for dinner was topped the salmon with pesto and lemon slices and baked for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees! Super simple. Crazy delicious. I served ours with golden zucchini zoodles. Golden zoodles. Golden Doodle? And some roasted brussels sprouts.

Enjoy!

- Rach

Do you have a food that reminds you of a certain place?