Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter and Peanut Butter Banana "Sushi"

Hey guys! I hope you had a fantastic day. One more day until Friday! I cannot wait until this weekend. My Mom and I are meeting in Lancaster on Saturday to go to the Amish farmer’s market. I have never been there, but apparently it is awesome. I am so excited to see some of the fresh foods they have.  The 8^th will be the end of Josie’s (vmfitness on Instagram) no cheats for two weeks challenge! The last time I cheated was on the 25^th when I went to a friend’s wedding. I cannot believe it has been two weeks already! I honestly rarely feel any desire to cheat. The only time I am looking forward to having a cheat any time soon will be later this next week because the local fair will be in town! You just cannot go to the fair without treating yourself to something sweet (even though my belly will probably regret it)! 

Last night I was browsing Laura’s (Sprint2theTable) blog and came across a recipe for her Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter. I had all of the ingredients to make it, so I knew I had to try it right away. It is a very simple mixture and it turned out great. I love this recipe because it is low carb, calorie, and fat. Here is what her recipe calls for:

• ¼ cup almond meal/flour
• 3 tablespoons of peanut flour 
• ¼ cup of unsweetened almond milk ( I added an extra tablespoon)
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon 
• 5 drops vanilla liquid stevia ( I used 10 because I have a sweet tooth!)

I will definitely be making this again! It is great for when you are craving some nut butter, but really don’t have a whole lot of flexibility in your macros. I used some this morning on my Peanut Butter Banana “Sushi” that I had for breakfast. Check out Laura’s blog if you haven’t already. She has marvelous recipes. 

Peanut Butter Banana “Sushi” Roll (paired with 4 egg whites and some mild Italian chicken sausage and ground black pepper for breakfast this morning)

This easy little treat is great for breakfast, pre/post workout, or just for a snack! What you’ll need:  

• 1 small low carb high fiber whole wheat tortilla from La Tortilla Factory (I swear by these tortillas, 50 calories a piece with only 3 grams active carbs in each, 2 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein) 
• About 2 tablespoons of the Low-Fat Peanut Almond Butter
• 1 small banana 
• Ground cinnamon

You can add things to this if you choose! Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, nuts, more fruit, etcetera. 

Spread the peanut almond butter over the tortilla, chop up the banana into pieces and line it up as though you were making a wrap, sprinkle some ground cinnamon over the banana and roll it up! Cut it into 4-5 smaller pieces, or just leave it as a wrap! I would like to try making this and putting it in my George Foreman grill. Warm peanut butter and banana is such a fantastic combination.  

Since changing my lifestyle to eating more clean and healthy, I have become die-hard obsessed with nut butters.  There wasn’t ever a time where I disliked peanut butter or anything, but I would always scoff at my Mom who eats peanut butter by the spoon full. Now, I find myself doing the exact same thing. I have a handful of different nut butters and always like to keep a full stock. I have sunflower seed butter, chocolate hazelnut butter, almond butter, 3 different kinds of Peanut Butter & Co peanut butters (I want to try the other flavors they offer, but they don’t sell them at my grocer :’(), all natural unsalted peanut butter, whipped peanut butter, and I am going to make my own almond butter and cashew butter very soon! I am crazy about nut butters now! It is so funny how much my tastes have changed. I can’t say I am complaining though! I love this lifestyle. What is your favorite kind of nut butter?

After work today I hit the gym for a triceps and shoulder workout. Yesterday I hit legs hard and I burned 500+ calories. I love leg day! I hope I get a good burn in today too with this workout: 

After the gym I had to pick up the boyfriend from work and get Keldeo for my Pokemon game (he works at GameStop, we are a bunch of nerds) and we went to the grocery store. We needed to stock up on a bunch of things and I wanted to pick up a couple new things as well. He is trying to watch what he eats and is getting more interested in going to the gym and living a healthier lifestyle. He isn’t as strict as me with his food intake and working out, but it’s awesome that since he has seen me progress and change, it seems to have motivated him as well. He even got his own gym membership so he didn’t have to come as a guest with me constantly. It just shows that if people see you doing something good for yourself, it may motivate others to do so as well!

Fall Reflection with Personal Pumkin Pie Baked Oats

Hey everyone! I hope you are having a great Thursday. If you are like me and work Monday-Friday I bet you are as excited as me for tomorrow to be Friday. This weeks sped by and I can not believe that people are back in school and there is only one more day left in August. It really seems like as you get older, the time starts to speed by. I noticed this especially since I graduated college and work full time.

How many of you are excited for fall? After years of mulling over the question of which season is my favorite, I think that I would choose Autumn. Mild weather is so fantastic. I love being able to wear shorts and a hooded sweatshirt or a t-shirt and jeans and be comfortable. I also love the way that the air smells, dewy cool mornings, warm colorful leaves, and pumpkins, apples, and more fall foods. This will be my first fall of healthy clean eating and I am so excited to see what new seasonal veggies and dishes I can try.

I was really craving pumpkin last night, so I cracked open a can of Libbys canned pumpkin and made this for my breakfast this morning. My very own bowl of Pumpkin Pie (Baked Oats)

For this dish you will need:

1/4 a cup of pure pumpkin puree (I use Libbys)
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons of almond meal/flour
2 tablespoons milled/ground flax seed
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) oat bran
1/4 cup of whole grain rolled oats (not instant)
pumpkin pie spice
ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 packets of raw all natural stevia
5 drops vanilla creme liquid stevia (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees while preparing your oats. I used about 1/2 a cup of water and cooked my oat bran and rolled oats together on the stove top first. Once cooked, I added in my egg white while continuously stirring the mixture. This ensures you won't have giant pieces of egg white sitting in your oats. I then added in one packet of raw stevia and mixed that in. Once cooked to your liking, take the egg white oats off the stove. In a separate glass baking dish or bowl, scoop out 1/4 (4 tablespoons) of pumpkin. Here is where I added the vanilla creme stevia and vanilla extract, but if you don't have it you can always omit it or use more plain stevia or sweetener of choice. I also added about 1/4 a teaspoon of pumpkin spice and ground cinnamon and mixed this all together. Then, I added the cooked egg white oats to the party with some more pumpkin spice and ground cinnamon (I love thoses spices so much!). Mixed all ingredients together well. Next, I mixed together the almond flour and ground flax seed together with another packet of raw stevia. I poured this mixture on top of the pumpkin oats like a crust. You may have some left over depending on how big your bowl is and how thick you want the crust to be on top. Throw it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

I let mine cool down and threw them in the fridge to keep until morning. I ate my personal pumpkin pie out of the fridge because I like cool pumpkin pie, but you can warm it in the microwave, toaster oven, or regular oven if you have more time than I did this morning. You can also top it with some light cool whip, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, protein frosting, peanut butter, whatever your heart desires! I topped mine with some Walden Farms zero calorie pancake syrup and that was all she wrote. I was very satisfied this morning but it left me craving Autumn even more than before.

Oatmeal always helps keep me more full for longer periods of time because it is so hearty. If you eat carbs in the morning, you will have more energy and it will help curb hunger (unless you're me and will be hungry again by 9 a.m.). Carbs are an important part of a healthy diet, just make sure you are getting the right carbs! Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and beans. Carbs are an energy source, so having them is not a bad thing! What you want to stay away from is processed crap carbs like white bread and pasta. Your food is your fuel, people! If you eat crap, you will feel like crap.


Here I am sitting at work typing this entry up and trying to make time go fast. So, I figure a lot of people who look at this are also interested in exercise and fitness. I am going to try to start posting more of my workouts so that you guys can see what routines I come up with. I like to think that my plans have been doing a good job building muscle, so here is my triceps and calves workout I am doing after work.


Exercise                                                     sets x reps

Tricp Kickbacks                                            3 x 15
Hanging Dips                                                3 x 12
Bench Dips                                                    4 x 12
Dumbbell Tricep Extension (one arm)          3 x 12
Skull Crushers                                               4 x 12
Tricep Extension (both arms)                        4 x 12
Lying Tricep Extension                                 3 x 12
Reverse Bench Press (palms face you)         4 x 10

Standing Calf Raise w/ Barbell
              toes in                                             3 x 15
              toes out                                           3 x 15
              toes parallel                                    3 x 15
Seated Calf Press (machine)                        3 x 12
Barbell Seated Calf Raise                            4 x 15


I have been trying to increase the amount of HIIT I have been doing to help shed that last bit of fat over my abs. Since my legs and glutes are still sore, and I did HIIT yesterday, I am just lifting today. I also have to do some moving tonight, so I am trying to keep my routine "light" so I don't burn myself out. More about HIIT will be on another entry at some point.



What are your feelings about Autumn?
What is your favorite seasonal produce for fall?