Happy Monday!! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It was low key over here. I worked pretty much all day on Friday and when I finally got home around 7:30, I was POOPED! I think I passed out at 9 p.m. #grandmastatus. Saturday I worked in the morning, got a facial in the afternoon, and then Michael made freaking awesome pasta which was immediately followed by an outing for ice cream.  Yesterday we went on a nice walk before the heat was at full force to Maple Acres Farmers Market, a wonderful farm near our place that has all sorts of amazing fresh produce and meat! We bought $8 worth of produce that would have probably been $20 at any grocery store. I'm talking 25 cents for a massive eggplant. And 3 for $1 cucumbers. Shop local - so worth it! If you're in the Philadelphia area or surrounding suburbs I definitely recommend a trip to Maple Acres.

We chilled by the pool, watched the olympics and browsed properties to buy in Italy for the rest of the day. No we're not moving to Italy, but one can dream! If couch lounging was an olympic sport, we would have gotten gold yesterday. And then we had more pasta for dinner last night with homemade marinara...can you tell we really, REALLY want to go back to Italy?!? 

Lazy weekend for the win after a crazy few past weekends.

Chewy Apricot Energy Bars

My friends bought me this new cookbook for my birthday in attempt to motivate me to post more recipes on the blog and it totally worked.

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You know I'm all about my power snacks. I just tweaked a few ingredients in the recipe to make it my own and to use up what I had and I absolutely LOVED this recipe. Its chewy, gooey, nutty, crunchy and perfectly sweet. 

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Chewy Apricot Bars via ahealthfulheart.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter*
1 apple peeled, cored and coarsely grated
1 2/3 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup oat flour**
1/2 cup chopped walnuts***
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper
Heat oil & sugar in saucepan over low until sugar dissolves
Remove from heat & stir in nut butter
Add apple, oats, flour, walnuts, sunflower seeds and mix well
Spoon about 2/3 of mixture into pan
Sprinkle with apricots (press them into mixture) and dot the remaining oat mixture over the apricots in a thin layer
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown
Let cool until almost cold (or else they will crumble apart!) and then cut into 16 squares
Store in fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for later

**Recipe called for almond butter, but I only had PB on hand and it worked great - could use any nut butter!
**Recipe called for brown rice flour but I stuck with oats here
***Recipe called for almonds, again adapted here with walnuts because I love walnuts in baked goods

Hope you all have a great Monday!

XO - Rach

What did you do this weekend?

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would it be?

Warm, dense, spicy and sweet...these Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins are the perfect treat on a chilly morning or a wonderful snack when you need a boost of wholesome energy!

These muffins are so delicious. They're not too sweet and they each contain only 150 calories, 3 grams of protein and 3 grams of filling fiber. I made them to have on hand for snacks this week, but lets be real, I've been eating them with my breakfast.

I used a mixture of whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and coconut flour, which gave this recipe a real hearty and dense texture. Don't get me wrong, I love a light and fluffy muffin, but I wanted a little more substance here with the whole grains and coconut flour! 

I used a Macintosh apple because they tend to be a bit softer, but any apple would work! Just chop it up real small - you could even grate it. I'm just not fancy like that. But I did use fancy caster sugar, thanks to Michael's mom who got it for me for a gift! Caster sugar is a finer sugar, so it dissolves more evenly. It's wonderful for iced teas or meringues. Or these muffins! ;)

Serve these puppies with a schmear of buttaaa! You're livin'.

[yumprint-recipe id='20']XO- Rach

What's your favorite muffin combo?

Who else feels like it's Friday? 

These Coconut Caramel Bars are rich & decadent, yet light and fluffy. They are made with oats and coconut, which pack a nutritional punch, yet the caramel & chocolate chips add a perfectly sweet touch. 

I had so much leftover caramel from when I made my Pumpkin Ale Cheesecake, and I was anxious to create something else with it! So I bring you...Coconut Caramel Oat Bars. These bars are filled with oaty goodness, healthy fats from the coconut and delectable sweetness from the chocolate chips and the caramel. 

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