Taking on Luna

Energy bars seem to be the latest craze. The supermarket shelves are stocked with millions of different kinds. Clif? Luna? Which to choose? These are great for a quick on-the-go snack and as someone with a crazy schedule I can appreciate that.

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But as someone with a soy allergy I can't appreciate their crazy list of ingredients..most energy bars contain some sort of soy, and while my allergy is mild, I prefer to stay away..I don't want to have to bust out the EpiPen.

When I decided that I wanted to try making my own energy bars at home I found tons of recipes for LaraBars (which I love and will probably post about at a later date) and for Clif Bars (which were ok but I wasn't super interested in making). I wanted to try Luna Bars - the ones I've tried tasted great and the just seemed fun to make. I found ONE recipe! In all of the interwebs..only one. Of course it was from the fabulous Chocolate Covered Katie! I eliminated the protein powder and chocolate and used honey as my sweetner. I think I'm going to try again with some maple syrup - yum! The original recipe can be found here.

I stored mine in the fridge after taking them from the freezer and cutting them. They were good! They tasted like healthy peanut butter rice krispy treats..and I was perfectly ok with that!

Farmer's Market Finds

I am obsessed with Farmer's Markets. So much great, local produce and super nice people..what's not to love? So obviously I was super excited when coming to BU I found out they had a weekly farmer's market!

 Last week when I ventured out, despite the rain, I found myself facing some interesting colored produce. I came home with a purple bell pepper and a white sweet potato. Oh yeah, who doesn't love weird colored food? Once I brought them home I couldn't even wait to cook with them so I used them in my lunch! I'm normally not a big pepper fan but I incorporated them into this dish so their flavor wasn't too noticeable.

I'm usually pretty bad a following recipes so I just randomly threw together a bunch of stuff I had so..bear with me as I try to make this into a coherent recipe. These values are totally adjustable to whatever you like, whatever veggies you have on hand, and this recipe can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. Also, if you want to use your own seasoning that's totally fine too..I didn't have time to mix up my own and I had a packet of taco seasoning on hand so I used that.

Alli's Taco Veggies with Cheese

- 1/2 medium sweet potato
- 1/3 C broccoli (can use frozen)
- 1/2 small bell pepper
- 1/3 C black beans
- 1/3 C roasted butternut squash
- 1/4 packet low sodium taco seasoning
- 1/2 C low fat shredded cheese

1. Microwave (or bake, or roast or whatever you like) the sweet potato and squash (I had left over roasted squash so I just used that) until it is fork tender.
2. Cut up the broccoli and par boil (or microwave if frozen), and strain+rinse the black beans.
4. Put diced pepper in a satuee pan with a couple table spoons of olive oil. Cook until softened.
5. Mix in all the other veggies and beans. Simmer for a few minutes.
6. Add the taco seasoning and about 1/2 - 3/4 C water. Simmer until most of the water has evaporated and sauce is thickened.
7. Put into plate/bowl/whatever and top with shredded cheese and let it melt. Yum!

Milk and Cookies Updated

Ok..Milk and cookies..doesn't that just bring you back to being a kid and after-school snacks? Yum. Well cookies are fantastic as they are but why not give them a healthy boost? Whole grain cookies..yes please. Kelli and I work for Sargent Choice which is the healthy dining program at BU and they have a ridiculously good whole grain peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe. This past weekend I spent probably half of my time in my kitchen and I decided that it would be a perfect time to bake some. There was one small catch..I've been recently diagnosed with acid reflux so I'm not supposed to be eating chocolate right now. Sad as that may be, it turned out pretty well because it lead me to making whole grain peanut butter butterscotch cookies. Yup. These might be better than the original. So delicious!
I've provided some lovely photos below plus my updated version of the recipe. Enjoy! What are your favorite cookies to make?

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies

Adapted from Sargent Choice Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 ¼ cups quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chunky natural peanut butter
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
3/8 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup butterscotch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat oil, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy.

2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet.

3. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks.

- Alli

Make Me Smile Monday

Happy Monday All! Today's Columbus Day. Now, back in Colorado, this wouldn't have been very exciting since school was never canceled. But now that I'm in Boston, Columbus Day means a a free day to go shopping get work done. Because Monday's are usually not so happy, Alli and I want to help make them not so miserable by posting funny/cute images and videos we find online in a series we're calling Make Me Smile Monday. Have a great Monday everyone!!

 

The Complete History of SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy

Couldn't Help Myself

-- Kelli

5 years, 3 albums later.

Death Cab for Cutie was my first "favorite band". I first heard their song "Soul Meets Body" my freshman year of high school and wondered why I hadn't heard them before. I immediately fell in love. Luckily, they were touring with Franz Ferdinand, who I also loved, the following spring. My mom (also a big Franz fan) and I always go to concerts together, and we couldn't miss this. So in April 2006 I saw Death Cab For Cutie in concert for the first time and it was magical. That sounds like such a weird adjective to use, but it really was magical. Everything about it...their talent really shines through in person..Ben's beautiful voice, Nick's killer bass lines, Chris's ability to switch from guitar to back up vocals to everything else, and Jason's awesome drum beats. From that moment on I knew they were my favorite band.

Next time they went on tour I was super excited. I saw them again at the Boston Opera House in November 2008. Then they put out a new album "Narrow Stairs" and I knew that they would be touring again. Oh yes. I saw them at Agganis Arena in October 2009, and was lucky enough to sit in the 5th row! Words cannot even describe how amazing that was. Then things calmed down for a while, but when I heard they were putting out another new album, "Codes and Keys" I knew that meant another tour. This past summer, Death Cab for Cutie announced that they were coming to Boston...twice. Wait..what? Is this real life? I get to see them twice? DCfC played a show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, on June 5, 2011 then again at the Bank of America Pavilion on August 1, 2011. I could not have been happier.

A few of my friends were going to come to the show at the Paradise with me but no one could get tickets because it sold out so quickly..which meant I was going by myself. While I've always been a concert-goer I've never gone by myself. I was nervous but so excited that it didn't matter. It was seriously the best show I've been to. Absolutely incredible. And the door-man at the Paradise marked my hands with smily faces instead of x's (for being under 21)

Then I saw them on August 1 at the gorgeous Bank of America pavilion with my mom. Who snuck us into the third row for the encore by lying to the security guards and telling them it was my birthday. Have I mentioned that my mom rocks? Singing along with every song, dancing like crazy, and crying during the show..yup that was a good night.

I just found this and it's definitely going to be my jam for this weekend!

September in Photos

Just wanted to share some pictures from the beginning of the semester :) Here's a few things that I did in september.

One huge plus of my apartment is it's vicinity to Crispy Crepes. Pictured here is a crepe with ricotta cheese and raspberry jam. So good! I've had it twice already this year..

One day my roommate and I decided to venture around Central Square, Cambridge. This is a crazy wall with tons of graffiti on it. She let me borrow her fisheye lens and I had some fun.

I had heard good things about Kickass Cupcakes..so when there was a Buy With Me deal for 6 cupcakes for $9 from their food truck I decided to go for it. It was totally worth it! I had one and was able to share. The cinnamon chai pecan sticky cupcake..so delicious. 

Stay tuned for more picture updates and other craziness. 

- Alli