Peanut Butter Protein Fudge

Peanut Butter Protein Fudge

So this is something that a couple of my friends were eating as snacks last summer. It tasted like peanut butter honey candy fudge. Dessert. At that time, my son was going through a phase of eating nothing but kids granola bars that had a 1000 ingredients. After my friends shared their similar recipes, I knew it was a treat I wanted to make for my family and I was hoping it would replace my son's bars.

Ingredients
16 ounces of natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cup of honey
2 scoops protein powder
2 1/4 cups of oats
3/4 cup of flax seed powder

Directions
Prepare a 9x13 baking pan by lining it with parchment paper. Empty the peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl and heat for one minute. Stir. If it's not soft, keep heating it in 30 second intervals. Combine the peanut butter and honey first.  Then add in the last three ingredients and mix well. Press the fudge into your prepared pan and cool in the fridge for an hour so it firms up. Cut it up into about 32 pieces and seal it in a ziplock bag so they stay fresh. Store in the refrigerator.

I bought Trader Joe's creamy unsalted peanut butter,

I suppose I should have bought a more natural honey but it's so expensive. This worked.

This is a marshmallow flavored protein shake powder.  I've used a chocolate one before and it tasted the same. I wouldn't try a berry flavor though.

Organic oats from Trader Joe's. 

I buy this flax seed at Costco and I use it to fortify everything my son eats.

Lining the pan makes for such easy clean up. 

Enjoy!!!

Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken

Hey guys! I hope your new year is going well and you're mostly sticking to your resolutions. I pretty much have. I've been slacking on the oil pulling but the others on my list, I've been doing.

I thought I'd share this super simple chicken recipe I found on Pinterest which came from Picky Palate. You will only need a few ingredients and a slow cooker to enjoy this dish.

Ingredients
2.5 lbs of frozen chicken thighs
6 ounces of pesto
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 packet of ranch dip mix

Place all of your frozen chicken thighs in the slow cooker.

Empty your jar of pesto right on top of your chicken.

Add 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar to the nearly empty jar of pesto. Shake it up to get all of the pesto out of the jar and add it to the chicken.

Add your packet of seasoning to your pesto and chicken. 

After you've added all of your ingredients into the slow cooker, try to distribute the pesto and ranch all over the chicken. Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 hours. You might need to add a little salt, I did, but my husband liked it without. I served this over pasta one night and the next day I ate it with rice.  

Enjoy! 

Happy 2015!

Happy New Year! I hope you've all enjoyed and recovered from your holidays. I have! A couple of people have asked me what my new years resolutions are so I've compiled a little list. You'll see that many are food related. Enjoy and tell me what changes you are making in the new year or what resolutions you are keeping from previous years.

1. Continue to strengthen my relationships with my family and friends. 
2. Go on at least five vacations. We started the year with a staycation at the Loews Coronado Resort and we have two more vacations booked. My little family is off to a good start.
3. Drink green smoothies daily. I make them with spinach, almond milk, chia seeds, and frozen blueberries. Sometimes I switch out the blueberries for PB2.
4. Drink a shot of apple cider vinegar mixed with Emergen-C daily.
5. Start my day with a warm cup of water with juice from half of a lemon. 
6. Pull coconut oil.
7. Make fish for dinner at least once a week. 
8. Make soup for dinner at least once every two weeks.
9. Of course exercise more often. I already bought new workout clothes, my sweet husband gave me blue tooth Beats headphones for Christmas, and my cousin bought our entire family Misfit Flash fitness monitors.  They're pretty awesome.
10. Organize and decorate my home so I enjoy it more. You can follow along with me on Pinterest.

I wish you much love and happiness in the new year.