Frozen Yogurt Trail Mix Bars

Frozen yogurt trail mix bars. Are you drooling? You should be. Tasty and nutritious. Amazeness.

You can see the recipe HERE. Here's how I made mine.

Berry Granola Frozen Yogurt Bars (makes 10 bars)

2 C. plain 0% Greek yogurt (I used Aldi's brand)
one 5.3 oz. container raspberry Greek yogurt (I used Aldi's brand)
3/4 C. sliced strawberries
1/2 C. blueberries
1/4 C. blackberries (cut in half if they're large)
3/4 C. homemade quinoa granola*

Mix everything together. Pour into parchment-lined 11x7-inch biscuit-brownie pan and freeze until solid. (I left mine overnight, about 10 hours.) Remove from freezer and score (make shallow cuts in the surface) for cutting bars of equal size - 10 pieces, approximately 2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Let the bars thaw until soft enough to cut (original recipe said 5 minutes; mine took about 40 minutes) and cut along score markings. Wrap each bar in wax paper. Place all the wrapped bars in a Ziploc baggie and store in freezer until ready to eat.

Nutrition (for 1 bar)
Calories: 101
Fat: 3
Carbs: 11
Protein: 7

Simply perfect with breakfast or for a snack. And the flavor combinations are endless.

I'm thinking....
peaches and plums
cherries and apricots
pomegranate arils, tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, papaya), toasted coconut
oranges and cranberries


*Homemade Quinoa Granola (makes about 3 cups)
1 C. old-fashioned oats
1/2 C. steelcut oats
1/2 C. quinoa
1/2 C. chopped almonds
1/2 C. chopped walnuts
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C. maple syrup

Stir together and spread on baking sheet. Bake 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 325 and bake another 30 minutes. Cool completely. (I wanted a super crunchy not-too-sweet granola for these bars and this was perfect.)

Food log May 15

Breakfast (6 am)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha and Honey (recipe)

Smoked turkey sausage

Poached eggs

Raspberries

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 443 Carbs 30 Fat 24 Protein 27

Lunch (11:30 am)

No Mayo Tuna Salad (recipe)

GF Crackers & Cheddar

Cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes

Sliced strawberries and kiwi 

Totals: Calories 447 Carbs 28 Fat 24 Protein 42

Dinner (5 pm)

Cocoa & Chili Rubbed Pork Chops (recipe)

Red Roasted Carrots (recipe)

Totals: Calories 285 Carbs 14 Fat 15 Protein 25

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1169

Carbs (target = 60-77) 70

Fat (target = 65-86) 63

Protein (target = 90-116) 93

Food log May 14

Breakfast (6 am)

Omelet with mushrooms, ham, and cheddar

Cottage cheese with pineapple

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 455 Carbs 20 Fat 25 Protein 37

Lunch (11:30 am)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Salad (lettuce, veggies, chicken, ham, swiss, honey mustard dressing)

Raspberries

Totals: Calories 342 Carbs 21 Fat 17 Protein 28

Snack (3 pm)

Salami Chips with White Bean Dip (recipe)

Dinner (5 pm)

Chipotle-Goat Cheese Chicken (recipe)

Apple, Celery, and Walnut Salad with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette (recipe)

Dark Chocolate "Magic Ice Cream" (recipe) 

Totals: Calories 300 Carbs 13 Fat 15 Protein 29

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1229

Carbs (target = 60-77) 58

Fat (target = 65-86) 68

Protein (target = 90-116) 100

Food log May 13

Breakfast (6 am)

Hard cooked eggs 

Pea Salad (similar to this recipe but with a lot less dressing)

Strawberries

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 437 Carbs 22 Fat 28 Protein 24

Lunch (11:30 am)

Chef Salad (artisan lettuce, veggies, turkey, ham, roast beef, hard-cooked egg, swiss, cheddar, ranch dressing)

Blueberries and sliced kiwi 

Totals: Calories 441 Carbs 23 Fat 21 Protein 41

Dinner (6 pm)

Asian Lettuce Cups (recipe)

Raspberries

Totals: Calories 334 Carbs 20 Fat 19 Protein 25

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1212

Carbs (target = 60-77) 65

Fat (target = 65-86) 68

Protein (target = 90-116) 90

Pondering bread

I'm 99% certain I am wheat intolerant but not gluten intolerant. I don't seem to have a problem with gluten-containing things like soy sauce or malt. (But then again, I've never drank a gallon of soy sauce.) So, I've been pondering this and wondering if I could eat bread that is wheat free even if it is not gluten free. Maybe using a grain like barley or rye?

I found this recipe that uses barley and garbanzo flours. It's wheat free...and even more exciting it's low cal and low carb. (At a quick calculation, I think it has around 100ish grams of carb per loaf. Not sure how big the loaves are, but guessing at 10 slices per loaf, that's only 10 grams of carb per slice. Woa.) I simply MUST try this.

Novus Adores: May 13

Inspired by Friday Favorites at Iowa Girl Eats, the NOVUS ADORES posts 

will chronicle things I'm currently diggin' on - food, fashion, books, music, etc. 

Royal Wood
I can't stop listening to his music!

"Once" is my fav - listen to it HERE

Ditch the garbage.

Want. Need.

(available from Modcloth)

Tastes like summer.

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

Food log May 12

Breakfast (6 am)

Egg scramble with mushrooms, ham, and cheddar

Cottage cheese with applesauce

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 455 Carbs 20 Fat 25 Protein 37

Lunch (11:30 am)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Salad (lettuce, veggies, chicken, ham, swiss, honey mustard dressing)

1/2 apple with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Hummus (recipe)

Totals: Calories 441 Carbs 30 Fat 23 Protein 32

Dinner (5 pm)

Balsamic-Bacon-Blue Cheese Stuffed Chicken (recipe) - minus the almond breading

Broccoli

Mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries)

Totals: Calories 316 Carbs 12 Fat 14 Protein 36

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1211

Carbs (target = 60-77) 63

Fat (target = 65-86) 62

Protein (target = 90-116) 105

Food log May 11

Breakfast (7:30 am)

Chicken Fajita Frittata (recipe)
Raspberries
1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 316 Carbs 11 Fat 17 Protein 29

Lunch (1:30 pm)

Lettuce wraps with Hawaiian Chicken Salad (recipe)

Blueberries and sliced kiwi

Totals: Calories 449 Carbs 29 Fat 23 Protein 34

Snack (5:30 pm)

Green olives

Cheddar cheese

Dinner (6:15 pm)

Buffalo Chicken Burger with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw (recipe) - no cheese, no bun

Pears

Totals: Calories 376 Carbs 20 Fat 21 Protein 25

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1224

Carbs (target = 60-77) 62

Fat (target = 65-86) 68

Protein (target = 90-116) 92

Food log May 10

Breakfast (7:30 am)

Brussels Sprouts Hash with Eggs (recipe) 

Orange-Mustard Glazed Pork Chop (recipe)

1/2 orange

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 467 Carbs 26 Fat 22 Protein 42

Lunch (1:30 pm)

Cauliflower Hot Pocket with chicken, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, onions, and cheddar (you can read about that here)

1/2 apple with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Hummus (recipe)

Totals: Calories 329 Carbs 25 Fat 16 Protein 25

Dinner (6:15 pm)

Salad with artisan lettuce, fried goat cheese pecan balls, mixed berries, Sage-Garlic-Rosemary Marinated Chicken Breast (recipe), and strawberry-balsamic dressing

Totals: Calories 353 Carbs 14 Fat 21 Protein 38

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1150

Carbs (target = 60-77) 65

Fat (target = 65-86) 59

Protein (target = 90-116) 96

Food log May 9

Breakfast (6 am)

Hard cooked eggs 

Pea Salad (similar to this recipe but with a lot less dressing)

Strawberries

1 cup of coffee with almond milk

Meal totals: Calories 437 Carbs 22 Fat 28 Protein 24

Lunch (11:30 am)

Lettuce wraps with tuna salad (recipe)

Baby carrots, bell pepper strips, and cherry tomatoes

Blueberries and sliced kiwi 

Totals: Calories 362 Carbs 20 Fat 18 Protein 40

Dinner (5 pm)

Sesame Chicken (this recipe but with less honey) over sautéed broccoli slaw

Totals: Calories 312 Carbs 24 Fat 14 Protein 23

Daily Totals

Calories (target = 1200-1550)  1111

Carbs (target = 60-77) 66

Fat (target = 65-86) 60

Protein (target = 90-116) 87

Cauliflower Hot Pockets

I was never a fan of Hot Pockets. The dough is nasty and the fillings taste very low quality. But did I eat them occasionally? Yep, because they're pretty damn convenient and cheap (which is, basically, the definition of processed foods).

Because of the "convenient" aspect of Hot Pockets, I was excited to find this recipe for Cauliflower Hot Pockets. The recipe creator just took the very popular idea of cauliflower crust pizza and made it into a Hot Pocket. Genius!

Low carb, wheat free, healthy.....and still convenient and cheap. Plus you're getting a couple extra servings of veggies! For the win.

I made mine with a filling of chicken, broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, onions, and cheddar. (And I omitted the oregano, though that would yummy for one with Italian fillings.) 

Here's the nutritional info for the one I made (calculated with 1 oz. chicken, .25 oz. cheddar, 1/4 broccoli, and a sprinkling of the other veggies):

Calories: 201
Carbs: 8
Fat: 10
Protein: 21

Compared to the nutrition info for a Chicken & Broccoli Hot Pocket:
Calories: 290
Carbs: 37
Fat: 10
Protein: 10

If you're going for protein and not carbs - and ingredients you can recognize and pronounce - the homemade cauliflower version is the obvious choice.

Edited to add

So delish I made it again! I made half the dough into a breakfast hot pocket filled with scrambled eggs, spinach, and cheddar (which reheated in the oven perfectly). The other half I cooked the full 22 minutes, without filling it. Then I folded it, like a pita or a taco shell, and baked it for another 5 minutes. Then I filled it with meatballs for a meatball sub. So much yum!

Drooling over brekkie

Looks like a mighty tasty crêpe, doesn't it? But, no. This wondrous thing is a low carb, wheat free, gluten free SWEET OMELET.

I made the omelet as directed in the recipe and then used the "it's just like a crêpe" to make a Cheese Blintz (with a yumtastic filling of sweetened cottage cheese + sour cream) and topped it with blueberry compote.

Plus, this....

I'm dying over here, folks.

Nutrition Info (for the omelet thingy)
Calories: 281
Carbs: 18
Fat: 17
Protein: 14

Calculated using these ingredients (1 serving)
"Crêpe" = 2 eggs, 2 tsp. (and a pinch) sugar, 1/2 T. unsalted butter
Filling = 1 T. cottage cheese, 1 tsp. sour cream, 1/2 tsp. sugar
Blueberry compote = 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 tsp. sugar

Food log Nov. 2

Breakfast (8 am)

Scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese

Pumpkin yogurt (recipe) (I used 3 oz. Chobani vanilla Greek yogurt + 2 T. pumpkin + 1 tsp. honey)

Meal totals. Calories: 556 Carbs: 18 Fat: 36 Protein: 37

Lunch (1 pm)

Chicken breast and steamed broccoli topped with garden vegetable cream cheese

Apple slices

Meal totals. Calories: 191. Carbs: 10 Fat: 7 Protein: 22

Dinner (5:30 pm)

Honey-Mustard Chicken & Bacon Bites (recipe)

Cheddar Broccoli Soup (Bear Creek mix with extra broccoli added)

Meal totals. Calories: 381 Carbs: 29 Fat: 15 Protein: 30

Daily Totals

Calories: 1,128

Carbs: 57

Fat: 59

Protein: 89

Food log Nov. 1

Breakfast (4:45 am)

Scrambled eggs with sausage and cheese

Sliced banana and strawberries

Meal totals. Calories: 471 Carbs: 16 Fat: 33 Protein: 28

Lunch (11 am)

Spicy Turkey Burger topped with Cinnamon Apples & Cheddar 

Celery with peanut butter

Meal totals. Calories: 360 Carbs: 12 Fat: 24 Protein: 28

Dinner (4:45 pm)

Honey-Mustard Chicken & Bacon Bites (recipe)

Cheddar Broccoli Soup (Bear Creek mix with extra broccoli added)

Meal totals. Calories: 381 Carbs: 29 Fat: 15 Protein: 30

Daily Totals 

Calories: 1,211

Carbs: 57

Fat: 72

Protein: 86

Food log Oct. 31

Breakfast (4:45 am)

Breakfast burrito (Wheat Belly Tortilla* + scrambled egg + sausage + cheese)

Mixed berries - raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries

Meal totals. Calories: 485 Carbs: 19 Fat: 36 Protein: 27

Lunch (10:30 am)

Chicken Parmesan Burger (seasoned ground chicken patty topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella - no bun) 

Romaine lettuce with ranch dressing

Apple slices

Meal totals. Calories: 329 Carbs: 12 Fat: 19 Protein: 29

Dinner (4:45 pm)

Honey-Mustard Chicken & Bacon Bites (recipe)

Cheddar Broccoli Soup (Bear Creek mix with extra broccoli added)

Meal totals. Calories: 381 Carbs: 29 Fat: 15 Protein: 30

Daily Totals

Calories: 1,157

Carbs: 59

Fat: 67

Protein: 85

*I was not impressed by the Wheat Belly Tortilla from the Wheat Belly Cookbook. The dough was wet and almost impossible to roll out without it sticking to the parchment paper. The result was something more like a pita than a tortilla (probably because I wasn't able to roll it thin enough). And the taste was sorta earthy and dense, like some kind of weird health bread you'd find in a hippie bakery. 

It satisfied my craving for a Breakfast Burrito but....meh. 

I've looked up some other low carb gluten free tortilla recipes to try (like this one or this one) and the common factor seems to be a dough that is so thin that it is pourable rather than being something heavy enough to roll out. It makes sense that this would result in something more like the light and thin flour tortilla that I'm familiar with. 

Food log Oct. 30

Breakfast (4:45 am)

Crustless quiche with spinach, broccoli, and bacon (recipe)

Roasted tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons (recipe) 

(Yes. I know. It's a weird breakfast. But it was my highest calorie meal that I had planned for the day so I made it breakfast. Besides, quiche is made with eggs.)

Meal totals. Calories: 507 Carbs: 25 Fat: 33 Protein: 28

Lunch (11 am)

BBQ-Bacon-Cheddar Turkey Meatloaf Muffins (a little bit this recipe, a little bit this one)

Romaine lettuce with ranch dressing

Raspberries

Meal totals. Calories: 388 Carbs: 18 Fat: 21 Protein: 33 

Dinner (6 pm)

Seasoned grilled pork chop topped with Maple-Ginger Pearsauce (recipe)

Brussels sprouts

Meal totals. Calories: 301 Carbs: 15 Fat: 12 Protein: 34 

Daily Totals

Calories: 1,195

Carbs: 58

Fat: 66

Protein: 96

Food log Oct. 28

Breakfast (4:45 am)

Omelet with mushrooms, ham, and swiss

Oatmeal-Raisin-Quinoa Breakfast Cookie (recipe)

Apple slices with peanut butter

Meal totals. Calories: 449 Carbs: 23 Fat: 25 Protein: 37

Lunch (11 am)

BBQ-Bacon-Cheddar Turkey Meatloaf Muffins (a little bit this recipe, a little bit this one)

Broccoli

Raspberries

Meal totals. Calories: 374 Carbs: 19 Fat: 18 Protein: 36

Dinner (6 pm)

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash (recipe) (I added ground turkey and served it with avocado slices)

Roasted Romaine (recipe) (I left out the parmesan and added hot sauce)

Meal totals. Calories: 303 Carbs: 19 Fat: 21 Protein: 14

Daily Totals

Calories: 1,125

Carbs: 61

Fat: 64

Protein: 88

Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Eating low carb, I really miss Italian food. Like...A LOT. Fortunately there are some ways to still do Italian, and though it's not the same, it's still tasty. Like this Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash.

You can see the original recipe HERE. I made a few changes, just based on stuff I had on hand, not really because I thought there was anything wrong with the recipe.

I used:
2 C. cooked spaghetti squash
1/2 C. ricotta cheese
1/2 T. parmesan cheese
4 oz. ground turkey, cooked
1 C. Hunt's No Sugar Added Spaghetti Sauce
2 oz. mozzarella cheese

See the original recipe for directions on how to cook the spaghetti squash.

I divided the squash into two individual baking dishes. I combined the ricotta and the parmesan and spooned that on the squash. Then I mixed together the ground turkey and the spaghetti sauce, and poured that over the ricotta. Finally I topped it with the mozzarella, and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. (Makes 2 servings)

Calories: 355
Carbs: 19
Fat: 18
Protein: 25

It's a really generous serving for only 355 calories, and it is so rich and cheesy and delish. Good stuff, this is.

Food log Oct. 26

Brunch (11 am)

Chicken-Apple Sausage (this recipe but I only used chicken, not pork)

Baked Oatmeal (recipe) with pumpkin and a drizzle of maple syrup

Dinner (5:30 pm)

Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash (inspired by this recipe but I made mine like this)

Salad (romaine, spinach, veggies, balsamic dressing)

Daily Totals

Calories: 826

Carbs: 57

Fat: 41

Protein: 60

Analysis

Weird day and the numbers aren't great....but the food was yummy!

Food log Oct. 25

Breakfast (5 am)

Omelet with ham and cheese

Cottage cheese with applesauce

Lunch (11 am)

Hard cooked eggs

Cheddar cheese

Celery with peanut butter

Sliced strawberries

Daily Totals

Calories: 800

Carbs: 26

Fat: 51

Protein: 64

Analysis

I laid down to take a short nap...and woke up 7 hours later. So I completely missed dinner (and probably really screwed up my sleep schedule).