Product Review: Buff Bake

Buff Bake recently sent me a jar of one of their products - Buff Bake Snickerdoodle Almond Butter. I was very excited to try a Buff Bake almond butter, because they offer a protein-packed almond butter. The one I got touted chia and flax in the ingredients - so I was even more excited because those are some of my faves! Honestly,  I normally go for the offerings that have "almonds" as the only ingredient, this stuff was chalked full of "love your body" ingredients. Each product varies, so I will only point out the Snickerdoodle - which is what I got. Buff Bake Snickerdoodle lists Roasted Almonds, All Natural Whey Protein, Coconut Palm Sugar, cinnamon, Coconut Oil, Chia Seed, Flax Seed as the ingredients.  That is a pretty sweet powerhouse of ingredients! It's also a huge plus for me that it's gluten free!

I normally have to limit my almond butter consumption to with apple slices or with my oats - only for the fact that I could eat a jar for dinner. :) But, when I saw it was snickerdoodle (one of my favorite cookies) I knew my spoon had to make the plunge!

You know when you taste something so heavenly that your eyes roll back and you just have to savor it? Yup, that's totally what happened with Buff Bake Snickerdoodle Almond Butter. I was in HEAVEN! This stuff will be a staple in my pantry, and I can't wait to try the other flavors they have to offer!

Here is one of my favorite recipes using Buff Bake Snickerdoodle Almond Butter. It's a protein and fiber rich breakfast treat. I love how the warm apples, cinnamon, and Buff Bake's Snickerdoodle Almond Butter all melt together for an amazing breakfast. It reminds me of an apple pie - for breakfast and way healthier! :)

(Hmm, now I'm thinking about one of my favorite guilty pleasures and trying this almond butter with gluten free animal crackers. That's going on my grocery list!)

Okay, enough rambling... here's the recipe!

Good Morning Buff Bake Snickerdoodle Oats:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 organic apple, chopped in to bite-size chunks
• 1/2 tb Buff Bake Snickerdoodle Almond Butter
• 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Cook the oats according to the package directions - using the almond milk and water for the liquids. 
2. In a microwave safe bowl, add chopped apples. Sprinkle with some cinnamon and microwave for about a 1-1 1/2 minutes.
3. Top the oats with apples.
4. Top oats with Buff Bake's Snickerdoodle Almond Butter.

This would also be amazing with a sprinkling of dried cranberries. :)

ENJOY!! :)

Product Review: Barney Butter

Barney Butter recently sent me some samples of their almond butter to try. I absolutely love almond butter and I haven't seen Barney Butter here locally, so I was quite excited! It also helped that in my correspondence with them, they always sounded off with, "Buttery Best." Off topic, but if you are familiar with brand identity, etc., then this was quite catching! It was adorable... I loved it.

OK, now on to the product. They sent me several of their 90 Calorie Snack Packs to try - hello, portion control, which is always a good thing for me and almond butter! I received their regular Smooth Almond Butter, Cocoa + Coconut, Vanilla Bean + Espresso, and Bare Almond Butter which has no added salt or sugar. I have to admit, I am not typically a fan of flavor variety nut butters. They tend to be too sweet for me, but this was NOT the case with Barney Butter! I will just have to tell you about each one...

Smooth Almond Butter:

I usually rock the plain Jane almond butter, and this one will now be on my list of favorites. It was exactly what it says, so smooth. I spread it over a banana and it was sheer perfection!

Cocoa+Coconut:This was my first flavored one, and I was skeptical. The verdict... it rocked my socks off! It was not too sweet; neither the almond butter, cocoa, or coconut overpowered each other. This is where portion control went out the window. After this, I immediately had to try to Vanilla Bean + Espresso.

Vanilla Bean + Espresso:

This one ended up being my top favorite. I'm a huge vanilla fan, and I love that it wasn't too sweet. It was just sweet enough and had enough coffee flavor to give it a kick. I've been craving it ever since.

Bare Almond Butter:

I love that this company has regular, unadulterated almond butter. The Bare Almond Butter was amazing with the pure taste of almonds. No salt, no sugar, all almonds. It was lovely.

If you haven't checked out the buttery best from Barney Butter, then it is absolutely a must! 

Breakfast: My Top 5 Picks

 

Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. If I could eat breakfast for each meal with out feeling guilty, then I would certainly do it. Breakfast is also "the most important meal of the day," so I guess I'm lucky to love it so much! If you aren't convinced that breakfast is the most important meal, then here's a way to understand it. Breakfast is just what is says, breaking the fast. Your body has just undergone hopefully a 7-9 hour fast while you were sleeping. We have learned that "fasts" can actually slow our metabolisms. Of course you can't and shouldn't eat while you are sleeping - rest is essential to your health. But you should eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. Some have the misconception that skipping breakfast will help cut their caloric intake for the day, but it actually does more harm than help. Aside from slowing your metabolism, skipping a meal will also increase your risk of overeating throughout the day. Not to mention, you're body and brain can't function as well without the nutrients it needs from breakfast. Can a car run without gas? Of course not! So, why should you expect that your body can run without the fuel it needs?

If you are in a breakfast rut, or think that a bowl of Lucky Charms will be the breakfast cure, then here is a list of my top 5 breakfast picks. Enjoy!

1. Blueberry Almond Oats
 

 

Oatmeal cooked in unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or water), topped with almond butter, ground flax, and blueberries.

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or 1 cup of water)
• 1 tb almond butter
• 1 tb ground flax
• 1/3 cup blueberries

2. Cran-apple Oats

Oatmeal cooked in unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or water), topped with almond butter, ground flax, sliced apples, and dried cranberries.

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or 1 cup of water)
• 1 tb almond butter
• 1 tb ground flax
• 1/2  sliced apple, (cooked to soften, sprinkled with cinnamon)
• 1/2 - 1 tb dried cranberries

3. Banana Peanut Butter Oats
 

Oatmeal cooked in unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or water), unsweetened cocoa mixed in, topped with peanut butter, ground flax, and sliced banana.

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or 1 cup of water)
• 1 tb almond butter or peanut butter
• 1 tb ground flax
• 1/2 sliced banana
• 1 tb unsweetened cocoa

4. Breakfast Protein Quinoa
Quinoa cooked in unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla shakeology and egg whites, then topped with any of the above choices.

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup almond milk 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 egg whites 
• 1 scoop vanilla shakeology

5. Breakfast BET

  This is a bit like a BLT, but with egg instead of lettuce.  Toast with turkey bacon, scrambled egg whites, and tomato. You can load it up like a sandwich, or like pictured below. Also try adding salsa or avocado.

• 1-2 slices gluten free toast
• 2 egg whites, scrambled 
• 1 slice turkey bacon 
• 1/2 sliced tomato 

The world of teacherdom

Teacherdom? Yes, I said "teacherdom." Is this really a word? I think not, but it works for me! Besides, it sounds less haute than saying, "academia." Who wants to read a blog post called, "The world of academia?"

Moving on...

When I became a teacher, there were a few surprises that just knocked me over the head. 

1. This is one of the hardest jobs I have ever done. Now, I wouldn't trade it for anything! I LOVE what I do and I love my kids. I was just stunned at how exhausted I was - especially in the beginning. 
2. I get along GREAT with 12-year-olds. I'm not quite sure what that one says about me... But I definitely find them quite entertaining, and I make them laugh... a lot. :)
3. Apparently there's a lot of gift-giving that goes on at Christmas. I was shocked when little gifts from my students started showing up on my desk. "Gift-giving" is one of my love languages, so this instantly filled my heart! To me, gift-giving doesn't have to be something big or ornate. I love cooking for people to show them I care. Sometimes just leaving someone a kind note, or letting them know you are thinking about them and praying for them can be an amazing gift to a person.

I'm going to share one of the gifts I received the other day from a family. I got the MOST amazing treat, and it was accompanied by a recipe! SCORE! These little things are INSANELY good! They definitely hit that sweet spot with the rich chocolate and almond butter. Oh, yeah. They are 100% clean, too. :)

Almond Power Bars

• 2 cups raw almonds
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 2 scoops flavored whey protein powder
• 1/2 cup raw almond butter
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• Stevia or xylitol to taste
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• 8 squares Ghirardelli chocolate

1. Place the first 7 ingredients in a food processor and pulse for about ten seconds.
2. Melt coconut oil, and add Xylitol and vanilla. Pour into the food processor while it is blending. 
3. Blend the mixture in to a course paste. 
4. Press mixture into an 8x8 in glass pan. Chill for one hour.
5. Melt chocolate and xylitol in a double boiler. 
6. Spread over the chilled almond mixture.
7. Cut into bars before placing the pan back into the refrigerator to chill.

Tips:

• Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
• Keep refrigerated.

Best 2013 Half Marathons per Self Magazine

I was reading this Self Magazine article and it really struck me! Running a half marathon is such a growing experience in its own right, but can you imagine running a half marathon on the Great Wall of China?! I'm still trying to wrap my head around even the notion of that experience. There were multiple locations mentioned in the article, Indianapolis, Great Wall, China, Miami Beach, Los Angeles, New York City, Montreal, Oslo, San Diego, and Las Vegas.

Indianapolis
OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon

Great Wall, China
Great Wall Half Marathon

Miami Beach
Allstate Life Insurance Miami Beach 13.1 Marathon

Los Angeles
The LA Marathon

New York City
Allstate Life Insurance New York City 13.1 Marathon

Montreal, Canada
Oasis Rock 'n' Roll Montreal Marathon & Half-Marathon

Oslo, Norway
Rock 'n' Roll Oslo Half-Marathon

San Diego
Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon & Half-Marathon
to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Las Vegas
Zappos.com Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon & Half-Marathon

I've never seen the Great Wall, but that would be BEYOND fascinating. I have visited Norway before and it is beautiful! I've never seen more vivid and beautiful colors. 

What would be your favorite half marathon destination?

• P90X - Shoulders and Back session at 4:30 am! :::yikes:::
• Running - 3 miles 1% incline, 30 min (to be done tonight!)
• P90X - Ab RipperX (to be done tonight!)

Breakfast

• Cranberry Almond Oatmeal aka my new (again) favorite :) I couldn't wait to go to sleep last night so I could have it for breakfast. Sad, but true.

• Tropicana Trop-50 (not a favorite of mine, I think I'll stick to a cleaner juice from now on) mixed with Arbonne Digestion Plus (LOVE!)

Lunch

• Arbonne Protein Chocolate Shake, mixed w/ PB2

Dinner

• Arbonne Protein Chocolate Shake, mixed with PB2 

Snack

• Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt with blueberries

Back to Training

I've had a bit of a hiatus lately from the blogging world. I've been having problems with Blogger allowing others to view the blog and an illness in the family. As of lately I've REALLY got in to reading food blogs, more specifically, healthy and clean eating blogs. I've found the most WONDERFUL inspirations. My favorite thus far is for oatmeal. OK, well 2 favorites. I only have a picture of this morning's breakfast, though! It is SUPER simple.

Almond, Cherry, Banana Oatmeal

1 cup of quick cook oats cooked in water or almond milk
1 tsp of dried cherries
1 TB of almond butter (I used crunchy, this time)
1/3 of a banana, sliced

It was AWESOME! I've discovered almond butter in the past few months and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Oatmeal is my "thing," now. Since I've learned that I don't have to do the "prepackaged flavors," it has opened up a new world! I've even had oatmeal for my snacks or dinner. :) I can't stress enough how much I love it.

I've started training again for a half-marathon. I'm bound and determined to complete this, injury-free! :) I couldn't wait to start training so I ran a couple of times this weekend. I've been doing some Beach Body programs the past few months. I really enjoy them, but it's nothing like running trails! :) Fueling my body and runs right now is the foremost thing on my mind. Expect to see lots of food posts!!