PB&B Greek Yogurt

Disclaimer: Blue Diamond provided almonds for use in this blog post. The opinions stated in this blog post are the unbiased opinions of its author. 

I'll let you in on a little secret if you promise not to shame me for it.

Part of why I like to work out is because I like workout recovery food.

There, I said it!

I do heavy weightlifting (I've been lifting since I had surgery 6.5 years ago) and one day was speaking to my trainer and asked what's a good thing to eat after a heavy lifting session. She advised me that something with some good carbs, protein and some fat is the best combo and suggested some lowfat yogurt with some fruit.

You don't have to tell me twice!

So this particular day I had three things going on:

1. I had an abundance of blueberries (I'd visited the Reading Terminal Market in Philly and everything was a dollar at this one stall, including pints of blueberries. Needless to say, I went a little overboard!)
2. I had a strong peanut butter craving.
3. I'd just done a REALLY strenuous lift session (new routine and I bumped my weights up).

This post-workout mini-meal was the result. Now I usually don't eat before I go to my lifting class (it's at 5:45 a.m. and I don't care how agreeable my pouch is, it's not accepting food that early!) so it's essential I get something good in me once I get home. This was fast, easy and yummy! I call it a PB&B for peanut butter and blueberries, of course. In my former life I loved blueberry jam on a peanut butter sandwich, so I decided to play with my food and see if the flavor could work in a yogurt set-up.

NOTE: In the end I decided not to use the actual blueberries. (Stay tuned because I found another yummy use for them!)

Nik's PB&B Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. container unflavored Greek yogurt (I use 0%)
• No-calorie sweetener, to taste
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter powder (as you can see above I used PB Fit)
• 1/2 serving Blue Diamond Blueberry Almonds (the above is a whole serving because the half serving looked sparse in the picture!)

Directions:


In a bowl, mix together yogurt, sweetener and peanut butter powder.

Top with almonds.

And CRUNCH!

Simple as that.

Blue Diamond offers a variety of flavored almonds that you can use in a variety of ways. I must admit I was skeptical about the blueberry almonds (I'm skeptical about almost any kind of blueberry-flavored anything), but I really did enjoy them. They were lightly sweet and crunchy. A nice offset to my peanut butter yogurt.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to use my current post-workout endorphin high to knock out some laundry.


Keep playing with your food!



From the BF Barbecue: Wanda's Berry Almond Quinoa Salad

So...quinoa was representing up in the barbecue!

Although I must admit I'd never had it with fruit before. Julia's Jerk Shrimp & Caribbean Quinoa also had fruit. I guess I need to play with my food, eh?

Wanda says she got her recipe from this website.

The only change Wanda made was to use sliced almonds. Otherwise, she stuck to the original recipe and it was yummy!

Thanks, Wanda, for this wonderfully refreshing dish! I also should have scarfed some of yours (since you had it conveniently packaged for scarfing!). Sigh...when will I learn?

This recipe brought to you by:

Wanda, a proud member of the Foodie Nation since 2012!

No-Flour Almond Butter Cookies



For those who ordered a Survival Kit or attended, the Holiday Food Tasting, this recipe is also on your dedicated page (along with another recipe that is just for you!) and (God willing) so will downloadable recipe cards for them by the end of today!

Many folks shy away from playing with cookie recipes because they are something of a science experiment. Cookies need to have the right balance of starch, fat, flavoring and levening agents to form into the perfectly simple deliciousness that we know as a cookie.

But really it isn't all that complicated. Take these almond cookies. They use no flour. They use no baking soda. In fact there are just a few ingredients, many of which you MAY already have in your pantry or fridge.

Again, this is a small batch recipe, yielding only about a dozen cookies. Because even though these cookies are BETTER for you than traditional ones...cookies just aren't ever going to be health food. Sorry!

Nik's No-Flour Almond Butter Cookies

1 c. almond butter

1 c. Splenda (if you don't use Splenda, use the amount of your preferred sweetener equivalent to one cup of sugar)
1 egg
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. butter extract

OPTIONAL: Raw almonds for decoration

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a hand mixer, making sure egg is fully incorporated. Dough will be loose.



Use a large spoon to roll your dough into a ball. Transfer to a sprayed baking sheet then mash down your dough ball with a spoon to form a disc.

Bake about 8 minutes then remove from oven. Place an almond on top of each and press into the cookie while still soft (for a bit of extra flavor, try a lightly sweetened almond from a 100 calorie pack or a cocoa almond!).

Allow to cool on a rack before eating. Cookies will be crumbly...but YUMMY!