Happy Monday! Enjoying my first post-grad Monday so far. I woke up early to go to a barbell strength class and stayed after for half of a cycling class but I got too hungry so I left. Priorities. Refueled with a delicious smoothie.

Napping is on the agenda today. And then maybe some laying out. It feels great to have nothing to do. Soaking it all up before I move and start my job next week!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2-3/4 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
• Vanilla Silk soy milk (until desired consistency)
• 1 tbsp peanutbutter
• Granola for topping

Complicated Directions:

• Add everything to a blender and blend ;)

Cheers!

- Rach

I love having homemade snacks on hand when I am really busy and need to grab some quick energy. Store bought protein and energy bars are usually so expensive! I stick to either Lara Bars or Kind Bars because they have the cleanest ingredient list and are delicious, but I just cannot afford them every week. It's super easy to throw together something similar with ingredients that you probably already have on hand. Yesterday I threw together Peanut Butter Oat Energy Bites. These are an example of how you can make your own. I always stick to minimal ingredients (makes it the easiest) and make sure I have a protein, healthy fat and carb to cut the hunger and give me sufficient energy. I also tend to add in some sweetness in the form of chocolate. Always chocolate.

The key with making these is the consistency. I have found that a no-fail formula is to have about three to four dry ingredients and only one to two wet ingredients - one of which should have some binding power (like a nut butter.) For example, in these bites, I included almost equal parts protein powder and oats. I then added in equal parts chia seeds and chocolate chips. After adding three tablespoons of peanut butter, I mixed everything together and slowly added one tablespoon at a time of almond milk. This is key!! You don't want the mixture to be overly dry or wet. It should be like a really thick cookie dough that you can easily form into balls or bars. These are truly so easy to make and you can play around with so many different flavors and add ins.

Ingredients: 

• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2-3 tbsp chocolate chips (I got a little heavy handed with this ingredient)
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 3-4 tbsp almond milk (could also use water)

Directions:

• Combine protein powder, oats and chia seeds and mix
• Add peanut butter and mix well (mixture should be a bit crumbly - cue to add more liquid)
• Add almond milk or water one tbsp at a time and mix
• When mixture is at a dough-like consistency, fold in chocolate chips or any other add ins
• Roll into balls and place on wax paper
• Store in fridge or freezer

Enjoy!!

Rach

Good morning! I hope everyone's weekend has been relaxing. My weekend has been quite uneventful, but it's exactly what I needed. The last few weeks have been a little crazy so I don't mind lounging around.

Friday night I ended up streaming 50 Shades of Grey. I refused to see it in the theater (I mean, come on...) and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I was pretty disappointed. The acting was tacky and the ending was awful. I guess that was what I expected anyway! I could never even finish the book because it was the same thing over and over again. Anyone else feel this way about it?

Yesterday consisted of sleeping in, baking and napping. I LOVE those kinds of days. And then I made it out of the house to meet up with some friends downtown for a few drinks! We went to Boca Fiesta first and I got a watermelon cocktail that I am absolutely going to create at home. It was so delicious! But I hate spending $8 on one drink. I could buy four carton of eggs for that price! We ended up at Tall Paul's listening to the cover band that was actually very good.

Now getting onto the recipe! I slept in again this morning! I can usually never sleep past 8 on the weekends so it's been nice being a little lazy. I woke up and was craving something refreshing before I hit the gym today.

Ingredients: 

• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice (not from concentrate - I use the cans from Trader Joe's)
• 1/2-3/4 cup coconut water
• 1 cup frozen pineapple & mango
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 handful ice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tbsp oats

Directions:

• Add everything to a blender
• Blend until smooth consistency

I'm hoping to also get out to the pool today. A Sunday well spent brings a week of content :)

Rach