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?

It's hump day (YAY two more days until the weekend) and I've got another yummy recipe for you!

I started today bright and early with a 3 mile run. I've been absolutely loving my runs lately, in case you were wondering. I think what has made running so great in the last few weeks is getting to explore a whole new neighborhood. If you're ever in Philadelphia, take a day to explore the Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill area - it's gorgeous! As much as I love being in the city, the new area that I live in is more suburban, and it's such a breath of fresh air. I don't have to wait to cross the streets in the mornings and the greenery is amazing. It's fun to run past all of the little bakeries, boutiques and little markets. I also like to run down the streets where the "millionaires" live - looking at the big homes takes my mind off of all the HILLS.

After running, I came back to shower real quick and didn't really have time to cook anything for breakfast, so I threw together this easy bowl before catching the train to work. The high-protein main ingredient is...cottage cheese! I didn't want to title this post "Cottage Cheese Bowl" because I have a feeling that a lot of people get grossed out by cottage cheese. You shouldn't be - it's delicious! And super versatile. And packs a punch of protein.

Anyway, I threw together about a cup of cottage cheese, 1/2 a banana, 1 small plum, blueberries, a handful of chopped walnuts, a sprinkle of coconut and a drizzle of honey. It's a refreshing breakfast or snack. I would much rather eat fruit with cottage cheese or ricotta cheese than yogurt - is that weird? Who cares. I LOVE CHEESE.

Okay enjoy :)

-Rach

Cottage cheese - love it or hate it? 

How do you get your protein in the morning?

Happy Monday! I know you need a little extra energy (who doesn't on a Monday afternoon?), so I'm sharing these delicious Trail Mix Energy Muffins. They could also be called "clean out your pantry muffins" because there's a lot of fun add-ins in these. Why skimp on all that goodness? The more the merrier! These are perfect for that pre-workout munch or even as part of your breakfast! They're full of complex carbs, healthy fats and natural sugar.

Here's what you'll need: 

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup regular flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 oz. dark chocolate or about 1/4-1/3 cup (I used 1/2 of a large hershey's dark chocolate bar and chopped it up)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup egg whites
• 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup raw honey

Here's what to do: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Mix together all of the dry ingredients
• Add in the greek yogurt, honey and eggs
• Mix together well - the consistency should be thick
• Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray (or line with muffin liners)
• Spoon in the batter to fill the muffin tin about 3/4 the way to the top
• Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown

I will definitely be making these again for next week!

Enjoy :)

- Rach