dessert Archives - Page 2 of 3

Lean Lena April 30, 2014

Foodie Pen Pals Reveal Day – April

Hey hey! Happy Wednesday 🙂 (man, I’m good at rhyming 🙂 )

How is your week going, guys? Ready for Friday yet? I am! I’m tired…

Anyway, Friday never comes soon enough 🙂 While we’re waiting, let me tell you about what I got in my latest Foodie Pen Pals box.

I was paired up with Sara this month. After a quick exchange of details about our food preferences and dietary restrictions (Sara is vegan) the boxes were finally sent off! Sara and I both got our boxes on the same day 🙂

Here’s what I got in my box of goodies:

Hazelnut cream filled wafers

Aren’t they gorgeous?

Omnomnom

These little guys are perfect healthy snack if you’re craving something sweet as cinnamon is a natural sweetener.

Sweet cinnamon roasted chickpeas

Now this was gone within seconds of me opening the box:

Sunflower seed almond butter

Oh and so was this (because, you know, it was just pure coconut):

Coconut snack bar

Larabar? What Larabar? I didn’t get no Larabar!

ALT Larabar that wasn’t there 🙂

Oh by the way, the bag of extremely delicious multigrain snack chips was also not there. No idea what happened to it – must have been lost in transit 🙂

My Foodie Penpals Box

Thank you so much for a wonderful box, Sara! I hope you enjoyed mine as much as I enjoyed yours!

Now time for you, guys, to check out my previous FPP posts to see just how awesome this program is. Here you go:

Convinced to try it yet? 🙂

Have a great rest of your week, guys! And don’t forget to get yourself a foodie penpal – so much fun!

Filed Under: dessert, Foodie PenPals, healthy snack ideas, new experiences Tagged With: dessert, foodie penpals, good food, healthy snack ideas, new experience 8 Comments

Lean Lena April 28, 2014

Vega Bars Review

Hey guys! Happy New Week!

As you might have noticed from following me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook – I’ve been selected to review Vega Bars through Fit Approach. I am super excited and honored as it is my very first product review and it is for Vega! I wanted to thank both Fit Approach and Vega Team for this great opportunity!

The very first time I ever heard of Vega was when I got one of my Foodie Penpal boxes from Heather over at Kiss My Broccoli – she sent me a packet of Vega Sport Performance Protein. I am not very big on protein powders. I do add them to smoothies occasionally but mostly I dislike them for the artificial aftertaste. I was intrigued by the product of Vega back then for not having that aftertaste! So when Fit Approach sent out an opportunity e-mail to review Vega bars, I jumped right at it and was selected as one of the bloggers!

Anyway, back to the bars. I have received a box of goodness from Vega to try out.

There were four kinds in my box: Vega Snack, Vega One, Vega Sport Protein Bar and Vega Sport Energy Bar – I got 2 flavors of each kind.

I won’t bore you with nutrition facts and such in this post. All that information is available online and you can access it and decide if it is right for your nutrition goals. This post is all about my personal experience trying the bars and how my taste buds felt in the process. 🙂

Of course I had to try one right when I received my box! I just got home from work and was getting ready to go to my Wednesday night yoga class, so I thought that would be a perfect time for a snack!

Well, hello there!

I started with Cranberry-Almond snack bar. LOVED the combination of almond and cranberry! I personally found this bar a little too sweet, but you’re looking at the girl who loves super dark chocolate the most. Otherwise, it did the job just great – it was a perfect snack to keep me going for a few hours until dinner time.

Next up was Vega One meal bar and I tried Chocolate-Peanut Butter flavor.

Let me tell you, this is a one serious bar right there! It has 13 g of protein, it is just the right amount of sweetness, and it has peanut butter AND chocolate in it! I was a little skeptical about the name to begin with – meal bar? There’s no way I can be satisfied subbing a meal with a bar – I’ll get hungry in an hour! – I thought. So I had this bar as a snack between meals at work. Erm…I was not hungry for HOURS! I just wasn’t. I had it for a 10 am snack and didn’t have lunch until 2 pm while my usual lunch time after the 10 am snack is noon. Hey, if you know you’re going to be hellishly busy and will not have time to sit down and eat a meal – this is a perfect on the go solution. My favorite part was that having 13 g of protein in it – you get none of that disgusting artificial powder aftertaste you get after eating a protein packed bar. NONE!

On Saturday I headed out for my usual Saturday double in the morning – indoor cycling class and then yoga. Sometimes I eat breakfast before that, other times I don’t – depends on how early I get up and if I feel like eating. This past Saturday I didn’t – so Chocolate-Coconut Vega Sport protein bar came in very handy in between the classes – it was a perfect snack to keep me going for another hour of exercise after cycling.

Just look at this goodness!

Yesterday my husband and I went for a 30K bike ride at our local Rail Trail. I absolutely LOVED the event and the trail, but 30K is a long way to go and you know me – I need a snack every 2 hours. I made sure I am well prepared for the challenge!

Once again, Vega Sport Energy Bar performed – I had my snack before the ride and then half way through:

Don’t mind my face – I just really wanted to finish my Vega bar!

The conclusion, my friends is this:

If you’re looking for a healthy AND delicious snack – Vega Bars are the way to go – no funky ingredients, yummy flavors, plant-based, gluten free and non-GMO.

Best thing – they taste GREAT. They taste like a treat without the guilt part of having one.

I absolutely and sincerely loved being a part of this campaign held by Vega and Fit Approach!

I hope you decide to try Vega Bars, friends. They are 100% worth it!

Have a great week and I will see you back here tomorrow for the Tasty Tuesday linkup party!

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post. I have received complementary box of Vega bars from Vega and Fit Approach. All opinions in this post are my own.

Filed Under: articles, breakfast, Cycling, dessert, events, fitness, fitness events, healthy snack ideas, lunch, new experiences, Product Reviews, Sweat Pink Tagged With: good food, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, lunch, new experience, product review, vega, Vega Bars 8 Comments

Lean Lena April 18, 2014

Five on Friday: Kitchen Gadgets Hoarding Edition

Hey guys!

Finally everything is right in my world – husband is back from his endless trip to China, kids coming back today, and so is the weekend!

Are you ready for the traditional Five on Friday?

Today we will talk kitchen gadgets. I am a complete hoarder when it comes to kitchen gadgets (anything really – appliances, tools, cookware, cutlery – ANYTHING). You name it, I’ll hoard it 🙂

Anyway. Surprisingly there are still gadgets out there that I don’t own and that is what I am talking about here today – kitchen gadgets I want but don’t have (yet) 🙂

{ONE} Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer

Can you imagine?

Image source

The only thing that’s stopping me from getting one right now is the limited counter space in my kitchen. And I mean really limited.

{TWO} Transparent Toaster – Magimix Vision

Image source

Never ever burn a piece of toast again! I am totally getting this one when our old toaster dies 🙂 Maybe by the time it happens this one won’t cost the ridiculous amount of money 🙂

{THREE} Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker

Oh my god! Need I say more? This thing makes yogurt! Yogurt that you actually know what’s going into…. DREAM! And it’s only $25!

{FOUR} Hamilton Beach 25475 Breakfast Sandwich Maker

Image source

I LOVE breakfast sandwiches. The problem is I rarely have time to make myself one in the morning, and I don’t really like the idea of making them in advance, and freezing them to reheat later.

This little thing would be perfect for me! (if only I had counter space for it, too 🙂 )

{FIVE} Traditional Electric Crepe Maker Tristar

Image source

I am pretty good at making crepes.

See?

What I like about this crepe maker though is the lower edges than the regular pan I usually use – nothing gets in the way when you need to flip the crepe.

And that makes 5 kitchen gadgets I’d gladly own 🙂

Do share: What is your dream kitchen gadget?

Have a wonderful weekend, guys!

This post was shared on:

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, Five on Friday, gadget-head, Gift Ideas Tagged With: baking, breakfast, dessert, five on friday, gadget-head, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy lunch, lunch 23 Comments

Lean Lena April 8, 2014

Tasty Tuesday – Let’s Talk Guilt Free Desserts

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday! How is your week going?

I’m back with the traditional Tasty Tuesday post today. Don’t forget it is a link up party, too! Link up your tasty finds (or your own posts) below and remember to check out other links, too!

What I have for you today is a selection of 5 guilt free desserts!

As you probably know, I am not supporting the fat free diet. I am a strong believer that our body needs all food groups and elements (including sugar and fat) – but I also believe those have to come in the right amounts and from the right sources.

Today I wanted to share with you 5 recipes I have recently discovered that use clean ingredients (entirely or mostly) and will leave you happy and guilt free.

Just to be clear – when I say “guilt free”, I don’t really mean the calories. I mean the ingredients (even though those two seem to come hand in hand in dessert recipes below). You will not feel guilty about eating these desserts, because they are better for you! Of course they won’t be guilt free if you overload on them 🙂 But if you apply the “everything in moderation” principle while eating these, you will be much better off than hitting your favorite ice cream place or grocery store for dessert.

You can click on the recipe title to get to the recipe on the author’s blog/website.

Here we go, let’s have some dessert!

{ONE} Frozen Yogurt Trail Mix Bars by the Lean Green Bean

Photo credit: the Lean Green Bean

I love this recipe for several reasons: it has simple ingredients, is very easy to make and makes a great meal prep item! You can make a batch that will last you a whole week and keep it in the fridge/freezer.

That is something I always admire about Lindsay’s recipes – simple ingredients and simple instructions.

Check out her blog for more recipes!

{TWO} 100 Calorie 2 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake by Eclectic Recipes

I love mug cakes – they make a great quick and satisfying dessert. You got 5 minutes – you got a great dessert! However, these babies are usually packed with empty calories ranging at 300-700 each and sometimes even more!

A healthy reasonably caloric mug cake is a rare find! and I just found one for you!

Photo credit: www.eclecticrecipes.com

I found this recipe over at Angie’s blog – Eclectic Recipes.

I loved it because once again – the ingredient list is simple and contains no funky stuff.

Make sure to stop by and check out Angie’s fabulous recipe collection!

{THREE} Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Quinoa Snack Cake by Peanut Butter and Peppers

Peanut butter? Quinoa? Snack CAKE??? Count me in!!! 🙂

Photo credit: www.peanutbutterandpeppers.com

This one comes together in 30 minutes according tot he recipe and makes a great meal prep item as well (I am all about efficiency and productivity today 🙂 )

Now I don’t know about Truvia Baking Blend the recipe is calling for, I would probably just pass on that one – pretty sure the chocolate chips will do the job of making it sweet enough for me. I would probably also use avocado in place of all/half the butter the recipe is calling for. But other than that I just love this recipe! It is also simple and quick to make.

You have to check out the Peanut Butter and Peppers blog where Jennifer is sharing healthy living tips and recipes!

{FOUR} 100-Calorie Pumpkin Pie Tartlets

Photo credit: www.verybestbaking.com

I love pumpkin. Even though this recipe is listed on the Very Best Baking under winter recipes, I could eat pumpkin every day all year round.

{FIVE} Greek Yogurt Peanut Butter Cups by The Falafelser

Can you believe these guys are 14 calories each? 🙂

Photo credit: http://thefalafelser.wordpress.com

No? Than you better head over here and grab the recipe!

Definitely check out The Falafelser for more recipes while you’re there. 😉

Now your turn! Tell me what delicious recipes/eats you have discovered lately! Link up below or just share in comments!

Have a tasty week, friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: dessert, healthy snack ideas, Link Up, recipes, Tasty Tuesday Tagged With: baking, breakfast, dessert, healthy snack ideas, recipes 24 Comments

Lean Lena March 11, 2014

Tasty Tuesday – Latest Tasty Finds and a Linkup Party!

Hey guys! Happy Tasty Tuesday to you!

Before I start talking about all the tasty stuff, I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that starting from today, the Tasty Tuesday blog post is officially announced to be a Linkup Party!

Come here every Tuesday to add links to your favorite tasty recipes, restaurant reviews, meal prep tips, etc. etc.. – we are talking anything tasty!

And…since it is a party – once you add a link here, your links will also appear on the Tasty Tuesday blog post of the linkup co-hosts.

This week it is just me and Meranda over at Fairytales and Fitness. Be sure to check out her blog!

So. Down to business now – this Tasty Tuesday I am sharing recent Tasty Finds!

{ONE} Peanut Butter Pie Ball by Wishes and Dishes.

To all of you, peanut butter lovers – you are welcome! 🙂

{TWO} Red Velvet Mug Cake by Kiss My Broccoli

Heather, I just want to give you a hug for this one! I love red velvet anything 🙂

{THREE} Ham and Cheese Baked Egg Cups by the Lemon Bowl

{FOUR} Banana Blueberry Cinnamon Bread by A Hungry Runner

I have recently received a private message on Instagram with a video statement from my 11 year old daughter’s friends at school that this bread is super delicious. You gotta trust those girls! This bread is super awesome!

{FIVE} Lemony Cookie Bars by Lauren Kelly

Aren’t the gorgeous?

Stay fit, friends, and keep it tasty!

Don’t forget to link up your favorite tasty stuff below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, healthy snack ideas, Link Up, lunch, recipes, Tasty Tuesday Tagged With: baking, breakfast, dessert, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy snack ideas, lunch, muffins, recipes 10 Comments

Lean Lena March 5, 2014

What’s on My Plate Wednesday

Hey guys! Happy hump day!!!

Oh, I am so very happy it is Wednesday!

So, how about taking a peak at what I ate in the past week? Yeah, I thought so. But I am posting anyway 🙂

For some reason I wasn’t feeling like taking a lot of pictures in the mornings this past week.

I can tell you that I ate a lot of oatmeal:

why of course I have cinnamon chips on it!

And breakfast sandwiches with a fried egg, cream cheese and turkey breast on an English muffin:

I ate my wonderful salads for lunch most of the days (those I prepped last weekend):

And then they tore out my kitchen last Tuesday… We live in an old house with horse hair plaster in the walls (yeah I know it is hard to imagine there were “before drywall times” now). When you have plaster in the walls and ceilings, this can happen:

yep, a hole in the ceiling

So they tore my kitchen ceiling out completely.

like…entirely…as in no ceiling at all

Gives my kitchen kind of a rustic look, doesn’t it? 🙂

Did that effect my cooking schedule? Yeah…all that plaster dust took a while to get rid of, that’s why we had Chinese for dinner on Tuesday.

But once I got all that dust cleaned off, we were back on track with dinners!

Yeah, lots of grilling and crockpot action!

Lemon-shrimp pasta, crockpot beef with wok veggies, steak and mashed potatoes, crockpot pork and wok veggies, chicken wings.

And, I did do my usual meal prep this Sunday! I did some nice lunch prep (salads with baby romaine lettuce, avocado, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, quinoa, green onions, goat cheese, chicken breast and hardboiled eggs + a sandwich) including snacks (apples, celery, carrots, snack cheese).

And right after that – this happened!

Well…what can I say? “All work and no play” would make Lena a one boring personality – gotta break the rules sometimes 🙂

Eat well, my friends, and have a great week!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, home improvement, lunch, recipes, what's on my plate wednesday Tagged With: breakfast, dining out, dinner, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, home improvement, lunch, pasta, recipes, salad 1 Comment

Lean Lena February 26, 2014

What’s on My Plate Wednesday – Weekly Eats

Hey guys! It’s hump day! Just 2 full work days left and then it is the weekend! Got anything special going on this weekend?

I will probably sleep a lot – I was not getting enough sleep this week. And when I don’t get enough sleep…well…you know…”don’t get body slammed by a low land gorilla” 🙂

It’s been a while since I shared my eats with you here, so here we go – “What’s on my plate Wednesday” post in store for you today. 🙂

Egg sandwich on an English muffin, corn muffin (recipe coming soon), oatmeal with cinnamon chips and sliced almonds, buckwheat with honey and butter, oatmeal with cinnamon chips and marshmallows. I’ve generally been pretty good with my breakfast choices as you can see.

Warm quinoa salad on a bed of spinach, pre-prepped salads, lentil soup (crockpot), salad/sandwich combo, Italian Grinder. Lunch…I am a Queen of Lunch Prep! So pretty good choices here too.

Pork loin with buckwheat, mushrooms and onions on the side; pork chops with buckwheat; salmon, rice, avocado and spaghetti squash; home made beef enchiladas; chicken roaster with veggies. Except when my hubby is making dinner (yes, enchiladas, I am talking to you), my dinners look pretty healthy. 🙂

Celery + homemade hummus, snapeas crisps, PB-banana smoothie, raspberry-banana smoothie, cuties. Yeah, this is my weakness. Can’t even begin to describe you what I snack on that doesn’t get to the social media in the form of pictures 🙂 Het, bare with me – I am working on it and it’s a journey!

What fun foods have you eaten lately?

Stay fit, folks!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, healthy snack ideas, lunch, recipes, what's on my plate wednesday Tagged With: breakfast, dessert, dinner, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, lunch, muffins, oatmeal, recipes, salad, smoothie Leave a Comment

Lean Lena February 24, 2014

Weekend Cooking Spree

Hey guys! How was your weekend?

Mine was busy!

The weather was just gorgeous here this weekend, but sadly, I didn’t get to do much outside.

On Saturday morning hubby and I headed out to the Y to take Jim’s indoor cycling class. It was so nice out that I decided to take my new Vibram Five Fingers for a walk.

Love-love-love them!

Since my Spinning® instructor training I noticed that my workout attitude and the overall “feeling” at a cycling class has changed dramatically! For some reason I was always going for the speed – thinking that if I go faster, it will be better for me, I will burn more calories and all that crap. Well, that all has changed now. I am doing speed work, too but generally try to apply more resistance on the wheel than I used to and focus more on my heart rate rather than the RPM.

Taking the training also changed my entire perspective on what a bike set up should be – I have my saddle a lot higher now and I’ve noticed that it is making it much easier on my knees – a lot less cracking! 🙂

Anyway, with that in mind, I went pretty close to my usual distance on Saturday but burnt the number of calories I haven’t burnt in a cycling class in a long time.

I did take a nice two-hour nap on Saturday after this class + yoga. I just had to! It was the best nap of my life 🙂

When I woke up from my nap, it turned out the youngest had gone for a sleepover, so suddenly me and hubby had the evening to ourselves. We headed out for dinner to a Chinese place, and then decided to do some wandering around TJ Maxx. Well, I never leave that store without a score (yep, I rhymed that on purpose!)

Got me some yoga socks 🙂

I’ve been eyeing those for a while, but they just cost some ridiculous money it seems like. These were $3.something a pair so I got them and will give them a try this Wednesday!

On Saturday I also managed to squeeze in some meal prep into my day somewhere between the two workouts and the nap.

Homemade hummus, quinoa, water infused with cucumber and frozen mint leaves

Did you notice I got my water infusing water bottles that I mentioned here? 🙂 I just love the one with the orange cap except for one thing – it had a huge sticker on the front. Being an OCD driven woman, I took it off and now it’s sticky. Some Googone will have to be applied – and that’s just too many motions for something I want to get in the mail and simply enjoy. If you don’t have an OCD, you will do just that without Googone – enjoy 🙂

The one with the red lid and bottom – I haven’t quite figured it out yet – the infuser part comes out through the bottom, if you don’t put the bottom lid back on tightly – it leeks. It’ll take me a while to make friends with this one 🙂

Anyway! On Sunday morning we slept in and hubby made me an awesome brunch.

crispy bacon, poached eggs, potatoes and English muffin

And then it started…My cooking bug was obviously up and full force this weekend. I just couldn’t stop cooking!

I did my lunch prep for the week:

Cut up some bananas to freeze for my smoothies:

Made some more infused water (oranges and tangerines):

Made these super awesome breakfast corn muffins with cheese and ham:

By the time I was done with my meal prep, it was time to make dinner. So I threw together this chicken with veggies.

And yes, those are pecan bars you see in the background – I made them, too. What? The oven was warm anyway 🙂

Tell me: what fun stuff did you do this weekend?

And as always – stay fit!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, fitness, healthy snack ideas, lunch, Motivation Monday, recipes, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, breakfast, dinner, family, fitness, good food, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, infused water, lunch, muffins, recipes, salad, spinning Leave a Comment

Lean Lena February 8, 2014

Recipe: Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey guys! Happy Saturday!

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. While I am at a very exciting event right now, which I will tell you about in the beginning of next week, I have scheduled this post to share a great recipe I have recently discovered.

I was looking for a recipe for oatmeal cookies last week and found this one in my recipe keeper. I honestly don’t know where it came from, but with a few changes to the original recipe, it turned out great and not so damaging 🙂

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 ripe banana, mashed
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cup old fashioned oats
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 oz dried cranberries
2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375º F
Beat butter, sugar and banana together until light and fluffy
Add eggs, mixing well
Combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl
Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition
Stir in dried cranberries and chocolate chips
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
Cool on wire rack

Makes 18 cookies @ 173 calories per cookie.

Have a wonderful weekend, guys! Stay fit and warm.

Filed Under: dessert, healthy snack ideas, recipes Tagged With: baking, dessert, good food, healthy snack ideas, oatmeal, recipes Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 24, 2014

Five on Friday

Hey guys! Happy Friday!!!

Here I am again with five things that I am loving lately.

{{ONE}} Conscious box

Oh. My. God. I saw the ads pop up a lot on the internet, and finally decided to try it. The idea behind it is – you subscribe for certain number of months (can be as little as one), and every month you get a box of goodies – all healthy and organic stuff. When I ordered mine, they had a promotion running where you had to pay shipping only and get the first box for free.

Check out some things I got in my box:

Mighty Leaf Tea

Beauty Bursts!

Wholesome sweeteners

and lots of other wonderful things that made me a one happy camper!

Would you like to get a conscious box? Then you need to head over here.

{{TWO}} Lemon Bars

So last weekend I was browsing through Facebook and stumbled upon a great recipe for Lemon Bars.

I have never made those before, I don’t think I ever had one either, but they looked so good and easy to make that I decided to go for it and make a batch.

Aren’t the gorgeous?

You can find the recipe for these wonderful things on Lauren Kelly’s blog.

{{THREE}} Oranges Infused Water

Well, you guys already know from my previous Five on Friday post that I have been addicted to oranges lately. It got worse – now I infuse water with oranges 🙂

{{FOUR}} “Women, Food and God” by Geneen Roth

What a wonderful book!

Buy Women Food and God on Amazon

Initially, I heard about this book from the list of recommended reading for the “Yoga Fit Yoga Lean” certification course with Beth Shaw.

What a wonderful reading it has been! Very refreshing and useful book to read for those who what to look deeper into their relationships with food 🙂

{{FIVE}} My New Food Scale

Long time ago I got myself a food scale. Loved it! So easy when you need to control your portion size or keep track of the recipe ingredients.

Time went by and one day my kitty dumped a pot of dirt onto the scale (didn’t you see it coming?) 🙂 Well, I was “smart” enough to wash it off with water. My scale stopped working…

So I was on the market for a new one. It amazes me how ridiculously expensive these things are! So I went searching on Amazon for two reasons – the prices for these at the store just did not seem reasonable, and reason #2 -me being a ~~lazy~~ busy person. Here’s what I found.

And that concludes my Five on Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, guys, and…

Your turn! Tell me about your Five on Friday!

Filed Under: dessert, Five on Friday, recipes Tagged With: dessert, fitness, fitness motivation, five on friday, good food, recipes, Vodka the Kitty, weight loss 4 Comments

Lean Lena December 27, 2013

Five on Friday or I Am Back

Hey, guys! Long time no post, huh?

I know…I know… Time to catch up and get back to my blog!

Today I am back with Five on Friday, which pretty much sums up what I have been up to while I wasn’t here with you. So, here we go!

{{ONE}} Christmas!

Where I come from, New Year is a lot bigger celebration than Christmas, and Christmas is celebrated on a different date, too (January 7). However, I came to love this wonderful holiday since I moved to the US. I love seeing smiles on people’s faces, giving and receiving presents and, of course, eating all the yummy things being cooked around this time of year!

We had a beautiful Christmas tree with a lot of presents under it!

And the kitty who thought those were all his gifts:

I got a great present (one of many)!

Braun Single Serve Blender!

Oh, now you just wait until I start blending those wonderful smoothies and sharing recipes with you 🙂

{{TWO}} Christmas Food – That’s Right, a Separate One for This!

Don’t you love Christmas for all the wonderful foods that bring back the memories of childhood, and make you feel safe and happy? I do! And since I am not American, I brought a little bit of my home to this year’s Christmas table.

Russian potato salad – “Olivye”

Crepes stuffed with cottage cheese and raisins

Oh, and of course we had to make cookies to honor the American traditions!

By the way, did you know the story of the Peanut Butter Blossoms? Check it out here!

We also had a beautiful center piece for the Christmas table that I brought back from my company’s Christmas Party:

{{THREE}} The Evil Stepmother Speaks

A little over 2 years ago I became a wife to a wonderful man, and a step-mother to 2 great kids. As great as they are, it wasn’t all cakes and flowers between us. The kids struggled with getting used to having me in their life full time, having to share their daddy with me, finding a place for me in the new family paradigm, adjusting to the changes I brought into the family….Throw in the adjustment due to being newly weds who had never lived together before and you got a pretty “explosive” mix there. I was blessed with great kids who were trying their hardest to adjust, be nice and loving. With the most wonderful husband, who has been my shoulder to cry on, my biggest supporter and The Man of the family. With an understanding and kind ex-wife who stayed out of the way when it came to our house vs. her house, our life and our decisions. Who has been my silent supporter all the way for the sake of her kids’ happiness.

Even with all that – we have had and are still having issues, difficulties, tension and disagreements, which are bound to happen in any step-family.

Having no friends around to vent to, what do you do? Right, you get online and Google the “happy step-family”. So I did.

I am very happy to have found Barb Goldberg’s blog that I read as a book – cover to cover. I am thankful for the feeling of not being alone on this anymore that reading her blog gave me. (And for oh so many “Thank God, I thought I was crazy” relief sighs that I took while reading her blog).

I don’t agree with everything she writes about. Not everything she writes about applies to me and my situation, but I can certainly relate to a lot of what she is saying. Thank you, Barb, for the hope you gave me with your blog posts! They are so inspiring and motivating!

{{FOUR}} Dr. Kevin Leman and the Birth Order Factor

To continue educating myself on the subject mentioned above, I grabbed my Nook and started looking for books to read to find answers to the questions I have about stepfamilies and step parenting.

I stumbled upon Dr. Kevin Leman’s works on birth order and how it effects the relationships in families. I downloaded his book “Living in a step family without getting stepped on”, and even though the book is mostly about blended families where both spouses have kids from previous marriages, I found it to be a great resource to understanding how the whole family dynamics works, and where the issues come from. Great read!

{{FIVE}} Back to Working Out

For the past month (oh my God…was it really THAT long?) my exercise has been very sporadic…2 weeks in Russia where all I did was walking from dinner table to dinner table, then Christmas with all the cookies and other delicious foods and practically no activity! It is time to get back on track here!

I did go to my regular Monday spin class!

Tonight – yoga, and my usual Saturday Double tomorrow with my hubby joining me for the spin class part of it. How exciting is that?

And that concludes my Five on Friday post!

Your turn!

Filed Under: dessert, dinner, events, family events, Five on Friday, holidays Tagged With: dessert, dinner, family, five on friday, good food, healthy dinner, holidays, salad Leave a Comment

Lean Lena November 9, 2013

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Hey, guys! Happy Saturday!

I am a snacking person, and snacks are a very important part of my daily meal plan. The only problem is – if I don’t watch it, my snacking gets out of control and I just eat all the unhealthy crap I can get my hands onto! To avoid this, I do a few things:

– I plan my snacks for the day.

– I ALWAYS have a snack with me when I leave the house.

– I make sure I have healthy snacks.

I wanted to share one of my go-to recipes for a healthy snack with you today. These guys come together in under half an hour and are very delicious!

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 14 bites

Serving Size: 1 bite

Peanut Butter-Banana Energy Bites

Ingredients

2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
2 tbs honey
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Cocoa powder for rolling

Instructions

Melt peanut butter and honey in a microwave. It melts very quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on it.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add peanut butter and honey mix to the dry mix.
Add mashed banana.
Combine well.

Roll into balls and roll them in cocoa powder.

Refrigerate for minimum of 2 hours before eating.

https://leanlena.com/peanut-butter-banana-energy-bites/

www.leanlena.com

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, healthy snack ideas, recipes Tagged With: breakfast, dessert, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy snack ideas, recipes Leave a Comment

Lean Lena October 11, 2013

Junk Food: 2, Lena: 1

Hey guys!

I finally got to my blog – second time in this busy week, which sucked for the most part 🙂

Let’s see….It’s Friday (YAY!), I am back to PT for an uncertain period of time (boooo), and heading to NYC this weekend to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary!!!

The past week healthy eating was challenged by:

lunch out with my husband on Monday

Birthday celebration cupcakes at work

Photo source – Catherine’s Cupcakery

movie night at home with my family

Junk/Processed/Not-so-good-for-you food – 2, Lena – 1.

There were some good/not-so-bad food choices and decisions this week, as well.

Fruit and yogurt for breakfast last Thursday

Home made crock pot chili

Mashed potatoes and chili on top

Home made crock pot split pea soup

Whole grain orzo salad

All in all, it wasn’t the best week food-wise.

On top of that, I pulled my left calf on Wednesday night, went to my scheduled physical therapy session on Thursday and was immediately treated for the new disaster. And that’s right when I was going to start making my way out of PT some time after next week. No such luck. The pulled calf hurt like hell last night, but seems to be a little better today.

What I am most upset about is the rest days I have to take that I was not planning on. This injury once again messes up my entire exercise routine and I can’t ignore it because it hurts to move.

Erm…remind me – isn’t exercise supposed to make you fell better? 🙂

Anywho, before my fitness life was interrupted by the pulled muscle, I managed to fit some fine exercise in last week:

12 ml ride in Monday’s spin class

Weights and strength training with Jim on Wednesday

Yoga class with Jim on Wednesday

Blogging news:

Did you guys noticed the new banner? What do you think?

Also, the former “Healthy Recipe” page of the blog is now called “Recipes” (the sole reason for the name change is that what’s healthy for me can be unhealthy for somebody else, so let’s go with the neutral name) and is powered by ReciPage!

I am still in the process of transferring the recipes from one to the other, but very happy with the way the new page looks! I think it is a lot easier to brows recipes now. You can also search by key ingredients, cooking methods and alphabetically.

I hope you like it and I would appreciate any feedback!

I will see you guys next week with the NYC trip recap!

Have a great weekend and stay fit!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, events, family events, fitness, lunch, recipes, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: bicycling, dessert, dinner, family, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, lunch, pasta, pasta salad, recipes, salad, spinning, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena October 2, 2013

Foods of the Week – What’s on my Plate Wednesday

Hello and happy Wednesday to you, my friends!

Let’s talk healthy (and not so much) food, shall we? I am changing the format of my weekly “What’s on my Plate Wednesday” blog post today – just because I get bored if things don’t change for a while 🙂

Hope you like it!Continue Reading

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, fitness, gadget-head, healthy snack ideas, lunch, recipes, Weight Watchers, what's on my plate wednesday, WW Tagged With: dessert, dinner, fitness, gadget-head, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, lunch, recipes, salad, weight loss, Weight Watchers, wwbtb Leave a Comment

Lean Lena September 30, 2013

Foodie Pen Pals – Reveal Day

Hey, my fitness friends!

Guess what? I did it again! I participated in Foodie Pen Pals program and today is the Reveal Day!

Curious what I got?

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, Foodie PenPals, healthy snack ideas, lunch, new experiences, recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: dessert, dinner, fitness, fitness motivation, foodiepenpals, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, lunch, new experience, recipes, smoothie 5 Comments

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

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