You'll Go Bananas for this Soft Serve!

This is officially my first time posting twice in one day (and probably my last), but holy moly, I had to share this dessert!

I frequently grab recipes from a blog called 'Oh She Glows', and I recently viewed a recipe for a "Banana Soft Serve" where the only ingredient is frozen banana. Conveniently, I've had a tupperware filled with frozen banana slices sitting in my freezer for over a week now, so it was kind of in fate's hands at that point.

The directions on OSG call for 2-3 bananas, but I just used one medium banana so I would have a serving. The directions also call for running the bananas in a food processor for 5 minutes until smooth, but my janky little guy doesn't have an 'on' button or anything fancy like that, and I didn't feel much like standing holding the chop button for 5 minutes, SO I held it down for 20 second intervals (about 4, scraping the sides each time). Since I only had one banana and I had accepted that a few chunks would add character, I left it at that. Here's what I was working with as far as consistency went:

And here is what it looked like all served up:

But it wouldn't have been complete without just one melted square of Simply Lite Dark Chocolate :)

Oh, and it tasted amazing!! Without the dark chocolate this is completely vegan, so if you wanted to add some chocolate flair without the minimal dairy, you could melt cacao nibs instead. This is so easy and so great. If you've got some brown looking nanners on your counter right now, chop 'em up, throw them in the freezer, and try this tomorrow!

Healthy BBQ Meal Makeover

This week there were a couple of gorgeous sunny days, and I found myself thinking about summer BBQ food when it came time to cook dinner. There are a lot of really tasty but really unhealthy BBQ-type foods out there, so I wanted to capture the essence of flavor but also avoid making a calorie/fat-laden meal. The catch was, I really didn't feel up to firing up the barbie or doing a ton of prep-work :) Predicament!

I drove my tired self to Raley's after work to see what kind of easy-to-prepare foods they had to offer. I like some of the items they have near the meat section, especially their shredded chicken, which is really great for quick tostadas. I found some pulled pork, which sounded so good, but the nutritional facts were disappointing. I finally found a great option with Lloyd's BBQ Pulled Pork:

A 1/4 cup serving has 80 calories, 2g Fat & 6g Protein. When I took out my 1/4 cup measuring cup, I thought, wow, this looks like the tiniest portion ever, but to my delight, the serving was a perfect fit on a toasted whole wheat bun. I added a tomato slice, pickle slice & romaine for some extra flavor.

We all know that any BBQ is not complete without some tasty sides. I'm a HUGE fan of coleslaw, so I made sure to add some plain coleslaw mix (found in the produce department by the bagged lettuce) and I also found some all natural Coleslaw dressing made by Marzetti. A serving of this dressing is 2 tablespoons (at 100 calories), but I only used one since I don't like overly dressed salads. I also have to say their packaging got me. Props to their marketing department for conveying the right message through labeling and bottle-shape alone. I'm okay with admitting that I fall for all of the consumer tricks!

Last, but certainly not least, I found these great red potato fries made by Alexia. A serving is 8 pieces, and they are really hearty, so I just went with 4 pieces instead. I would highly recommend these; especially since they are made with Parmesan Cheese and Garlic (how could that ever be bad?!).

So, I threw all of that onto a plate, and I came out with the masterpiece below; and all with very minimal effort! I apologize for the lack of photographic integrity; my 3G iPhone really doesn't cut it for capturing a moment.

BBQ Dinner Stats:

368 Calories, 10g Fat, 1025mg Sodium, 5g Fiber, 14g Protein

Not too shabby and this one is also *Boyfriend approved* which is a pretty big deal when it comes to making dinners :)

Here's to much more BBQ fare, and hopefully actually using the tool that gives the food its name next time!

Weekend Shopping, Memberships & Brownies That Don't Plague Your Bum

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend, I know I did! I really can't complain since I was able to catch up with beautiful friends at a baby shower yesterday, got a Mani/Pedi with my bestie, went on a date with my man, got a massage today, and THEN went shopping! It was as great as it sounds like it was.

I have to say, I've avoided getting a pedicure for a while, and now that it's getting warmer, it was definitely needed. Luckily my friend Stephanie felt the urge after her work-day was over yesterday and I jumped at the chance to catch up and be pampered at the same time. I went for the full-on Mani/Pedi, French Tip of course (since I could NEVER do that myself), and I love the way they look. I don't love that my thumb is already missing part of its beautiful bright whiteness which reminded me that I probably didn't need to spend $25 on getting that done, but I still appreciate it anyway because it looks pretty :)

I've had a gift certificate to get a 60 min. massage since Valentine's Day thanks to my love, but I have procrastinated getting it until now, which was silly since my back is a tension playground in my shoulders and neck and I get tension headaches for this reason. The girl at The Integrated Massage Center (by Chico Sports Club) did an awesome job and even gave me 20 extra minutes for free because my left shoulder "needed a lot of extra work". I think I should probably try to make the investment to do this more often because it was wonderful.

Last night my boyfriend and I were going to go out for dinner and some wine, but due to overcrowded-ness at our first dining option, we opted for Burgers and Brew downstairs and ditched the wine idea. I had a delicious turkey burger and a couple of glasses of Stella Artois, which is my favorite beer ever and I can't help but to feel classy drinking it because of this genius ad that I always see in Cosmo:

Burgers & Brew even uses the same glasses, so I thoroughly enjoyed my consumption!

After we got home and had a chance to digest, I was feeling a bit of a sweet tooth and remembered that I had a box of Trader Joe's Guilt Free Brownie Mix! I had yet to try the stuff, but it sounded interesting and I've heard good things. All that you have to do is add non-fat yogurt (2/3 cup) to the mix and spread into a baking dish or pan before baking for about 15 minutes (I baked under the directed time because my oven is a speedy cooker) at 350. I had non-fat vanilla yogurt so I used that. The instructions say to "mix with a spoon" but I find that a bit ridiculous since there is very little wetness to work with, so I used my hand-mixer and it worked really well. The brownies were/are SO good and only 130 calories for 1/12 of the pan, which is actually a pretty large square. I just had one for a snack today and they are still as moist and tasty as they were last night. I will probably have them for snacks for a few days.

As far as great deals this weekend, I started off on Friday by taking advantage of Sephora's 15% discount on all purchases for Beauty Insiders. You can become a Beauty Insider by simply signing up and you get points each time you make a purchase, which provides a ton of perks and free gifts. I stocked up on Bare Minerals Matte for the summer-time when I don't like to wear full-coverage makeup. This sale is good through 4/21, so if you're in need of some makeup, sign up and take the extra percentage off! The code to use at checkout is CHIC.

Another site that provides a lot of great deals for simply signing up is HauteLook (Gilt is also great). You get email notifications daily about sales, and they frequently have designer brands at awesome prices. The sales start at 9am PST, so you want to check in early before things start to sell out (which they always do). I found this adorable Guess dress yesterday:

Today after my massage, I was able to go to Old Navy to check out the sale that they are having. I am SO happy I did! The current deal is that you take 30% off of any already marked down merchandise, and seemingly almost everything was marked down! Here are the items I got for myself:

I purchased:

Skinny Cuffed Jeans - $11.33

Jean Capris - $26.55 (These weren't really on the big sale, I just wanted them)

Fuschia Dress (the one I wanted!) - $18.26

Coral Stone-Detail Tank - $2.83!

Dark Green Shirt Dress - $8.49!

I also found a ton of great stuff for the boy, and I learned that their Men's polos will be going on sale for $6 on 4/23, which is a killer deal if you have a man who needs some summer clothing. I particularly like their heather blend polos:

As if my Old Navy escapade wasn't enough, I headed to Forever 21 and got some more deals because I was just in the mood to dig through sales racks. I found a lot of great sale items including this striped yellow & white tunic (maybe a dress to some people, but not this girl) for $4.99:

I also paid full retail price (only $20.00) for this adorable dress along with a few belts at only $6-$8 each full retail, which is a huge steal.

Well, that's all I've got for today. Make sure to check out some of these deals if you get the chance, and DEFINITELY make sure to try the Guilt Free Brownies because they are live-changing!

Zucchini Sticks, New Snacks & Payday Spending Plans...

It's been a little while since my last post and yet another busy week. I want to start off by sharing the recipe I mentioned last weekend for the Baked Zucchini Sticks. I made another successful batch this weekend, but they weren't as good as when I made them the first time. I must have added a little extra Romano Cheese that time :)

All in all, these are very easy and a healthy way to get a little bit of crunch into a snack but still get your veggies at the same time.

Thanks to Gina's Skinny Recipes (my favorite healthy cooking blog) for this one:

Baked Zucchini Sticks 
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 3 • Serving Size: 1 zucchini • Old Points: 1.5 pts (sauce extra) •Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 121.9 • Fat: 2.4 • Carbs: 21.0 g • Fiber: 6.0 • Protein: 6.7 g 

• 3 medium zucchini sliced into 3" x 1/2" sticks
• 1 large egg white
• 1/3 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• cooking spray
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt
• fresh pepper

Here's a picture of the sticks in progress:

And here is the finished product:

I would have whipped up a quick homemade marinara, but I was already pretty food processor-ed out after my Hummus, so I just used some organic tomato sauce leftover from dinner earlier on in the week.

While I love to try out new recipes and make my own meals a lot of the time, I also have nights (more frequently lately) when I just don't feel up to cooking a full-on dinner. I have found a new love in Lean Cuisine's Thai Chicken (and Garlic Chicken) Spring Rolls. I can pop these things in the oven and they're done within 10-15 minutes and I serve them with a simple salad. Voila! The best part is that my boyfriend LOVES them. He even bought some himself at the store, so you know that he's a big fan :)

A serving of 3 spring rolls is 200 calories, 7g Fat, 10g Protein, 23g Carbohydrates. We also discovered that they are delish with Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper soup (the kind in the box, which is AMAZINGGGG). 

Some other great finds of late have been:

Trader Joe's Protein Power Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins. 130 calories, 2g Fat, 7g Protein, 22g Carbohydrates (great heated up in the mirco for 15 seconds)

Luna Bar, Chocolate Dipped Coconut bars... Heavenly. There is quite a bit of Saturated Fat in this bar (because of the coconut) but so long as you limit your consumption for the rest of the day, it's no biggie. 190 calories, 7g Fat, 4g Saturated Fat, 9g Protein, 25g Carbohydrates

I always have dessert, and these bars do not disappoint. Skinny Cow always does it right, but they have a home-run with their Cookies 'n Cream Truffle Bar. 110 Calories, 2g Fat, 3g Protein, 20g Carbohydrates

I get paid tomorrow (thankfully!) so I'm definitely planning to venture into the shopping world, and I know I'm definitely stopping by Old Navy to check out these dresses (further below) on sale. I can't tell you how many times I've found the most adorable dresses there, and whenever I get complimented on them most people say they would NEVER think they could find such great clothing at Old Navy. Well, you can, it's always affordable, and most of their clothing runs a size larger, so you'll get a confidence boost too!

Pin-tucked Tie-Front Dress $30.00 (Sale)

Embroidered White Sundress $25.00 (Sale)

I'll definitely share if I have any luck in my shopping endeavors or discover any new food finds this weekend. Feel free to share if you have any luck as well! I love getting tips in return from some of you; that's what this is all about :)