no bake energy bars - aka vegan high raw energy bars

ha. vegan. high raw. you all know i'm neither.

but these energy bars are both. and they are AMAZING. i've been eating close to 1 a day for months and i'm completely hooked. they are so good and soooooo easy. just dump everything in a bowl. mix. freeze. don't bake. eat. yum.

i found the recipe at love veggies and yoga. averie's site is great and she makes all sorts of fun vegetarian creations. check it out if you have a minute!

i could still never be a vegetarian. i love me a good burger. speaking of burgers... have you tried the animal style burger at in-n-out burger? truly life changing. and make it a double. i've discovered i just don't like in-n-out as much without 2 patties.

no bake peanut butter energy bars
about 15 bars
from love veggies and yoga

1 ripe banana, mashed
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
just short of 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey (or even maple syrup)
1/2 cup coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
just short of 1/2 cup raisins, craisins, date chunks (any dried fruit, really)
1/4-1/3 cup chopped nuts (whatever you like!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon

optional ingredients:
2 tablespoons milled flax seed
2-4 scoops protein powder (no go for me - the soy makes me itchy...)

the above measurements are not exact - adjust according to what you have and like. it will all stick together in the end.

throw all ingredients in a bowl. mix well. press into a wax paper-lined baking dish (i use one smaller than 13x9 but bigger than 8x8. use what you have!). freeze for 8ish hours. pull out and cut into bars. store in individual baggies in the freezer.

they soften up pretty quickly after you take them out of the freezer, so eat it pretty quick.

they will store in the freezer for well over a month. not that they'll last that long. :)

richola granola

i traditionally really like granola, but i wouldn't say i've ever ever loved it.

well that changed.

i've mentioned that my dad is a fabulous cook. he found this fancy shmancy granola at whole foods about a year ago and decided he wasn't willing to pay $5 for a few ounces of it. so he experimented until he mastered it at home.

it's the perfect granola. i could eat it every day. with milk. over yogurt and berries. just a handful by itself. mmm...

it's a little pricey to make since it has nuts and agave, but definitely less expensive than buying even the cheapest bag/box of granola from the store. and way better for you.

and it's adorably named (by my dad) richola granola (his name is richard). love you dad! thanks for sharing!

richola granola
more than a gallon ziploc bag full

8 cups rolled oats (old fashioned, not quick)
1/2 cup almonds (whole or sliced, i like sliced)
1/2 cup walnuts, broken up
1/2 cup pecans, broken up
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (i omit - pumpkin seeds are pricey!)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, craisins, cherries, whatever you can afford!)
2 teaspoons sea salt
11.5 oz agave nectar (just less than 1 1/2 cups)

1. mix all ingredients except agave nectar in huge bowl (i use my roasting pan). add agave nectar and mix thoroughly til everything is wet and evenly distributed.
2. you can eat it raw, this way (store in ziploc bags or large tupperware containers).
3. or you can toast it - spread on 2 cookie sheets and toast at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring at 10 and 20 minutes. (my dad toasts it longer, but this works for my oven and my tastes.)

five ingredient fridays: vanilla and cinnamon fruit salad

sorry... it's saturday. i know.

this salad is sooooo yummy! my 1 year old would eat it by the truck load. it tastes like a treat, but it's good for you. no sugar even.

they were serving samples of something like it at my gym a few months ago and i knew i had to recreate it! here it is!

vanilla and cinnamon fruit salad
4 snack servings

1 sweet apple (so no tart ones like granny smith) , grated
1 pear, grated (peel it if pear skin is too rough for you)
1 banana, grated (has to be ripe for flavor, but still firm... and really grate it, sounds weird but it's a consistency thing in the salad - don't mush it)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
less than 1/8 teaspoon vanilla

1. combined apple, pear, cinnamon and vanilla. stir to combine. gently fold in bananas.
2. if you have extra, store in refrigerator and enjoy for 1-2 days.

snack time!

holiday blogging hiatus is over!

it feels good to be back, though it feels a little frustrating since hubby is gone until 10pm for the next three months. we're doing lots of kid-friendly, non-interesting food around here. but that's okay. i like kid food.

my mom packed awesome school lunches. one of my fondest school lunch memories is peanut butter and jelly on graham crackers. now i try not to eat it for lunch but i do eat it for a late night "non-dessert" snack once in a while. here it is for your enjoyment - with the trick that makes it eatable!

graham cracker pb&j

graham crackers
peanut butter (jiff reduced fat is my favorite... only because it's sweeter than regular pb)
grape jelly (try others - this is my go to for this snack though)

1. spread a thin layer of peanut butter on a graham cracker. spread a thin layer of jelly over that. top with another graham cracker.
2. ****here's the trick: let them sit for at least 30 minutes (or lots longer in a school lunch) so the crackers get slightly softer so it doesn't crunch and get as many crumbs all over the place when you bite into it.

next up - a magic cole slaw for people who don't like cole slaw. i would know - because i don't like it. :)

and more pb&j just for fun...

banana snack cake

this banana snack cake was just like banana bread, but you didn't have to wait an hour for it to cook! no white flour and it was completely delicious. both times i've made it it failed to last 24 hours. try it for yourself!

banana snack cake
modified from recipe at zimbio.com (here)

1 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (toss some oats in your blender!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoonbaking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup mashed, ripened banana (i use 4 smallish bananas)
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk (original recipe called for 1/2 cup sour cream - this would be great too!)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips


preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray a 9x 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

in a large bowl mix together sugar, eggs, and applesauce. add bananas, soy milk (or sour cream) and vanilla. beat again until smooth.

add the dry ingredients slowly. the batter will be thick. fold in chips.

pour batter into pan and bake for 25 to 28 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

cool completely on a wire rack. cut into 16 pieces.


and coming friday - a new skinny bovine feature! five ingredient fridays. at the request of my friend katja i will post a recipe every friday with five ingredients or less! thanks for the great suggestion, katja!

avocado shakes: my new favorite snack

since going dairy-free for my baby boy, snacking has been slightly more painful for me. my favorite snack is fruit, which still works, but i really love to snack on cheese during the day and a few bites of ice cream is a perfect snack right before bed. clearly i needed a solution to this problem.

i found one! thanks to my little brother. an avocado shake. no ice cream or yogurt needed - the avocado makes it smooth and creamy. if you love the taste of avocado then try just that. if you want it to be subtle - add more fruit! my hubby's favorite is avocado-banana-apple. my fav it avocado-apple.

skinny bovine's avocado shake

puree the following in your blender:

• crushed ice (less for 1, creamier shake - a little more for 2, slightly icier shakes. see about how much in pic below.)
• 1 ripe avocado (makes 1 or 2 shakes, depending on how much ice and fruit you add)
• milk (i use vanilla soy milk, just enough to get it to blend)
• sugar (a few spoonfuls, but add to taste. if you have a little extra cash lying around, i think this shake would be fabulous sweetened with agave nectar - and healthier too!)

other yummy things to add:

• other fruit - we've tried and liked grapefruit (see pic), apple (the whole thing, decored of course) and banana (for 2 shakes i'll do 1 avocado, 1 whole banana and 1 whole apple)
  
• apple juice (instead of part of the milk)
  
• a dash of lime juice

being resourceful

i love granola bars. unfortunately, they can be kind of an expensive snack for someone on a tight budget. luckily, someone resourceful out there made up their own recipe and gave it to my mom many moons ago. moral of the story - if there is something you love and it's out of your budget - see if you can make it yourself!

not the world's most healthy snack (or the world's unhealthiest either), but they're way better (and way cheaper) than store bought. and... i've been totally craving them and wanted to share.

homemade chewy granola bars

picture from allrecipes.com (different recipe, but they look kind of like these!)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons honey

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 cup flour (try whole wheat and just use a little less)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ cup rolled oats

1 ¼ cup rice crispies

1 cup chopped almonds (i prefer less)

½ cup wheat germ

1 cup chocolate chips or raisins, optional (i use less!)

1. grease 9 x 13 pan. cream brown sugar, sugar and butter until fluffy. add honey, vanilla

2. and egg, mix well. add flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt at low speed. stir in remaining ingredients.

3. press firmly into botton of prepared dish. bake @ 350 for 12 minutes in conventional oven (or microwave on medium for 7-9 minutes rotating dish ½ turn every 3 minutes)

recipe of the week: pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

i totally have a thing for pumpkin this time of year! i don't know what it is, but i crave pumpkin everything during the holidays! and since i'm kind of muffin crazy, here's a fun butter-less, oil-less recipe with no white flour. mmm....

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

18 muffins

8 oz (fat free or low fat) vanilla yogurt (generic brands are often 8 oz)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup oat flour (run oats through your blender!)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could leave these out, but they are pretty yummy!)

1. cream butter,vanilla and sugar. add eggs and pumpkin and whip until combined.

2. add all dry ingredients and stir until combined.

3. stir in 1/2 cup water until combined. then stir in chocolate chips.

4. pour batter into 18 greased muffin tin spots.

5. bake at 350 about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

this is my cute daughter eating dinner and posing with the muffins. i love that face!

snack time

i'm sure i'm not the only bovine who is getting hungry between meals so let's talk about snacks. there are definitely good and bad things to snack on, so what is the difference:

bad snacks:

• anything full of bad carbs - this can be store-bought granola bars, cereals, chips, etc., etc., etc.
• anything with lots of sugar - as much as we love it, we all know that snacking on leftover dessert from sunday night is a bad idea
• anything full of bad fat - anything fried like chips and anything with lots of butter like almost all crackers (sadly this includes our favorites like ritz, chicken in a biscuit, etc. even saltines aren't very good! ahhh!)

good snacks:

• fruit - keep lots of it around. shoot for 2-3 a day. it isn't hard - eat a banana with or after breakfast and an apple after lunch. don't want it plain? put a little bit of peanut butter on your apple and you may change your mind. this is still better than snacking on the apple cake you made last night (i made one last night... i'm trying to remind myself of this too...). a glass of orange juice is even a pretty decent snack
• veggies (with some fat free/low-fat salad dressing if you don't like to eat them plain)
• homemade granola bars (i'll post mine some time)
• yogurt - healthy and a great way to sneak in a serving of dairy
• nuts (sometimes they are expensive, but if you watch for sales these are good snacks!)
• hard boiled eggs (read more on eggs)
• whole-grain, low-sugar cereals (by the handful - i'm not talking about a bowl of cereal). i like to munch on my daughter's cheerios on occasion.
• and a good snack i've discovered will often quell my insatiable sweet tooth... muffins and quick breads made (made with no oil or butter and packed with good flour, fruits and veggies and with some added nutrition through wheat germ and flax seed)

you're probably noticing a trend - things are generally more healthy and less expensive when you make them yourself! this is something that we all know, but sometimes it's good to get a refresher!

i created these yummy snack loaved the other day for a number of reasons. 1 - i had brown bananas i didn't want to waste! :) 2 - i wanted a little bit of a sweet snack with no oil, butter or white flour in it. 3 - traditional sized loaves seem to get dry on the outside while the inside is waiting to cook, so these snack loaves are moist all the way through. yum. and 4 - a piece of a normal sized-loaf is often too much if i just need a tiny snack to hold me over.

my husband definitely prefers bread like this with white flour in it but he loved this one! it's light, moist and pretty good on the healthy snack scale! hope your health-resistant husband likes it too!

cinnamon banana snack loaf

2 snack loaves

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 smaller bananas for me!)
*1 cup oat flour (stick some oats in the blender)
*1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup warm water
*for an extra healthy touch decrease oat flour and wheat flour to 3/4 cup and add 1/4 cup each of wheat germ and milled flax seed

1. beat together sugar and applesauce. add vanilla and eggs and beat well.
2. stir in bananas and mix well again.
3. add all dry ingredients and combine until moist throughout.
4. add water and mix again until combined.
5. pour equal amounts into 2 large, greased loaf pans and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees (check frequently!). (the "snack loaves" will fill about 1/2 of a large loaf pan, but you could make small loaves if you have the pans.)