A Weighty Issue

I don’t like to talk about weight, calories, good for you vs. bad for you, etc etc etc on here. For many reasons. Primarily because I don’t like preaching and pushing my beliefs on others (although, one could argue that since I don’t count calories, I’m pushing that no one should, but we’re not going to get that technical here.) (Rebakah, this is starting to sound like your post! Don’t worry, I’m not stealing your idea.)

If people don’t want to eat healthy, that’s their thing, I’ve got mine. It’s what makes the world go ’round.

But, it’s come to my attention, that someone that is near and dear to my heart really needs to lose some weight. The worst part? I’m not helping the issue. See, I give him tons of goodies. I’m practically making him fat, just because I enjoy his company and friendship. He’s trying to lose and get fit – really, he is! – and then I come waltzing in with a bag full of cookies to feed him while I just watch him. It’s like there’s no “full signal,” in his body. He just keeps eating.

And eating.

And eating.

Heck, he’ll even eat it if it’s bad, just so long as it winds up in his belly.

I call this "finding my legs."

Yes, my dears – we’re talking about Teddie. I weight-taped the little pooper today so I could properly deworm him, and he’s nearly half a ton! Nine-hundred and eighty big ones.

This is what half a ton of pure cute looks like. I call this "awww, mom...C'mon. It's muscle!!"

Newsflash – he’s a pony. (For giggles, I height-taped him, too. He’s about 14.1 ish because I know you guys couldn’t go about your daily lives without knowing that.)

And this is entitled "Hey, did you just hear the grain bin, too?"

So, it’s time to buckle down. No more half-hour grazing fiestas just for fun. (Not to mention it’s spoiling him. The hardest part of working with him is getting him to want to go back in his pasture.

Teddie and I forget that we have eyeballs to keep open when we smile.

Oh, well. Soon his work load will be going up. And I’ll just say it’s half a ton of pure muscle. And he’s a Haflinger…I mean, he uses all that weight to pull logs! (me being the log, I guess.)

Anyways, moving along. Granted you’re all still reading and didn’t click off my blog as soon as you thought I was bashing a friend’s eating habits 😛 Today was a fun day!

It’s been a while since I’ve been cookin’ in the kitchen, and oh did I miss it. Horses and heat had been sort of preventing me from doing my Tuesday and Thursday baking – so I made up for it today. Sort of 😉 I always get more ideas after the fact. Like “ooh, should have done this! Should have done that!” But, what’s done is done.

I tried my hand at some Chunks of Energy, and even though they turned out more like Thins of Energy, they taste delicious!

You will need:

• 1/2 c. oats (doesn’t matter what kind – they’ll be getting processed anyways)
• 1/4 c. (generous) salted, roasted cashews
• 2.5 T. Xagave
• 1 t. cinnamon
• water (as needed)
• 2 T. (generous) nut butter
• 2 T. The Organic Whey
• 1/4 c. dried fruit
• 1 T. sunflower seeds
• 1 T. wheat germ

Combine the oats and cashews in a processor…

I've never had a processor this HUGE before. I was a little intimidated.

…and process until some chunks are still left. Drizzle in the agave until you get this sort of consistency:

Slightly clumpy but crumbly, and able to be packed into a ball.

Add in your peanut butter, cinnamon, and protein powder.

Just pretend the whey is in there - I did this the difficult...uh..."whey," I'm telling you guys to do it the easy "whey."

…and process, streaming in water until it forms into a solid clump. Or two. Ish.

Clumpy!

Transfer to a medium sized bowl, and add in your dried fruit (I used trail power), sunflower seeds, and wheat germ. Next time I’d add even more nuts – chopped almonds, chopped cashews, etc…but I didn’t feel like chopping. Additionally, the trail power was the winner because it was the only dried fruit I had, save for apricots, which I wasn’t feelin’. It’s really a blank canvas for you to add whatever ya wanna.

All together now!

And once it’s all together, press into a tupperware (or whatever, really – but since chilling is important, a tupperware will make your life easy.)

Chill for a while and then cut them however ya wanna. In hindsight, if I wanted chunks I should have used a smaller container so that they could be thicker – but oh, well. Next time I’d probably just double the recipe. I didn’t want to make a huge batch and have a bunch of fails if that was what happened.

My verdict: I love the chewiness and peanut-buttery-ness! It’s got a great P.B. taste without using half a jar (because, lets face it…I kinda grimmace when I have to go through half a jar for one recipe.) I kept them simple with the add-ins this time – I was challenging myself! I tend to just throw in the kitchen sink, but I restrained and went with KISS this time.

Next up was a recipe I’d been eyeballing for a while…Averie’s Crackers!! I don’t know why it took me so long – I will never go back to buying munchies because these are bomb.

Components

I made a few alterations to the original recipe simply because I wanted a savory cracker rather than sweet. And I found a bug in my flaxseeds. Oik. I used:

• 1/4 c. cashews
• 1/4 c. chia seeds
• 1/4 c. sunflower seeds
• 2 T. sesame seeds
• 1 T. milled flax
• garlic salt, pepper, paprika

Not pretty. Tasty.

And when I spread them out, I topped them with smoked sea salt, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.

…And these came out! Holy yum. Seriously. Stop buying crackers and make these. I can only imagine them being even better with flax seeds, but the cashews are quite pleasant. They’re divine alone or with a friend. That friend being garlic hummus.

I’ll credit my finally pumping out something in the kitchen to two things.

One being waffles with blueberries for breakfast…

(with iced coffee, of course)

The icing today being made with sunflower butter rather than peanut 🙂

whoops. Sorry for getting a little carried away with that loveliness. Back on track, here…the other being swamp water my first ever green monster. In a bowl.

Oh, yes. Went there. Sucked it up, and just went for it. Even made a special stop for spinach.

Well, that might be a partial lie. The store having gelato had a lot to do with it. I opted for chocolate chip today rather than coconut. Mixin’ it up, nah mean?

Which is strange because I’m not usually a chocolate chips in ice cream kinda gal. I don’t like hard things in my frozen treats. But I must have subconsciously known that these wouldn’t be chips – but rather shavings. Think almost cookies and cream. And homemade chips, even!! So yum.

Ehem. But the monster. The monster was gooood.

• spinach
• 1/2 c. greek yog
• 1 banana
• 1/4 c. almond milk
• drizzle agave
• i give up, i have no mmory of what i put in it, and based on its’ appearance, it’s anybody’s guess. sorry, kids.

I can tell you that the toppings of peanut butter, quick oats, and dates was supreme. Nacho supreme?

Also motivating?

Surprises from friends! Rebekah saw my desperate cry out for the carrot cake Larabars and went above and beyond hooking me up. Thank you SO much, girl! Can’t wait to try one 😀 P.S.  I guess maybe the horses are rubbing off on my food preferences?

Is this not the cutest card ever, btw?

After all my rendezvousing in the kitchen, more pony-playing occured. See, Georgie’s still alive!

And Maya too…

Let us out, let us out, let us out!

And to wrap this up, a quick dinner.

I was going to get creative and try a new pasta dish – but the window passed and I was hungry. So, I threw together whole wheat penne, roasted broccoli, garlic, tomato (the first one from the garden!!!) with a little bit of olive oil and feta cheese. Topped wif some cashews and enjoyed 🙂