Sweet tooth, satisfied.

All day long, all I can think about is peanut butter.

Is my body craving the sugar? The protein? I just want PEANUT BUTTER!

I was going to make oatmeal cookies, then maybe some peanut butter ones but opted to try making some sort of granola concoction that I could snack on, throw on some yogurt or mush up with some bananas.

My mom had told me how she makes her granola for her breakfast every day, but she puts sugar and raisins and other stuff I did not have on hand nor did I want to use it.

In my pantry, I had all of the necessary items and a little bit of extra time.

This little monkey decided to help me.

I have only made this one time before and I modified it this time around. I sprinkled a small amount of Stevia instead of using brown sugar and mixed up some PB2 instead of "regular" peanut butter. 

What made it easiest for me was to mix the oats and coconut oil first, then add in the honey and peanut butter. It made it easier to blend everything together. I sprinkled the stevia on top and lightly mixed that in. 

Once everything was pretty well blended I spread it out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and placed in the preheated oven. 

I am not going to lie.... I may have sampled some of this mixture before placing it in the oven. It was pretty amazing, and could definitely be eaten like this as well.  

I baked in the oven at 350 for approximately 10 minutes, stirring it up once about half way through. I was watching it, to see when it turned slightly brown and thats when I pulled it out. It probably could have gone longer and gotten a little crunchier but to me, it's perfect. Just the right amount of crunch. 

So delicious! The perfect healthy, clean snack! If you make some, and make any changes, let me know how they turn out!! I'd LOVE to hear! 

Recipe

1 1/4 C Rolled Oats (I used Quaker Old Fashioned this time)

1/4 C Peanut Butter

1 1/2 tsp Coconut Oil

1 TBS Honey

1/2 tsp (approx) Stevia to sweeten 

Mix ingredients, spread onto wax or parchment paper and bake 350degrees for 10-12 minutes depending on desired crunch. Enjoy!! 

Drink it, Feel it, Share it...

In April I was introduced to something that I never though would have the impact it has had.

I have been trying to eat cleaner for a couple of years now. I never did do a complete cold turkey cut of foods, but have slowly eliminated them and after time, forgot them and don't even want them anymore. Especially after I've learned what they do to my body and have seen how much better I feel without them.

Eating fruits and vegetables has never been a problem for me, I love them. I am not too picky and am willing to try new ones when given the chance. I started juicing earlier this year and felt I was getting "plenty of fruits and veggies" doing it that way. I was healthy. I was detoxifying my body.

But was I really? I was still really tired all of the time, not sleeping well and my skin was breaking out again like I was a high school sophomore. Something was missing and I couldn't quite figure it out.

My yoga instructor had briefly mentioned MonaVie while finishing up class one day and offered up a chance to receive our "Life Score" or antioxidant levels score. I thought, sure! What the heck! I eat lots of blueberries, I juice, and I drink that lovely green juice from Costco called Green Machine. I stuck my finger in the little black contraption that she carries around with her (my husband says it looks like an electronic stapler) and within a few seconds I had my score...

Photo Credit: www.monavie.com 

It was low. Very low... 

The score ranges from red, to orange, yellow, green, blue then purple. The lowest score being in the red range and highest being purple. I was orange. The lowest range of orange, almost red. 

I was shocked. How could I score so low when I ate so well? I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I eat several servings of fruits and vegetables throughout the day but still... not enough. 

That is when she told me about "the juice". Juice that is made from real fruits and vegetables. 100% pureed wild organic fruits and vegetables with glucosamine for your bones and joints, wellmune to get your immune system primed up for fighting off sicknesses, and flax seed oil to help nourish you cell membranes making your cells more susceptible to all of this good nutrition. If I try this juice for 60 days and my score doesn't go up, I will get my money back. 

I decided to try it for a week... see what I thought and then I'd go from there. It's just 2oz twice a day and I could easily add that supplement to my day. 

I was given a bottle of the MX blend to try and just two days later I placed my first order. I am proud to say that I am a distributor and the only regret I've had is that I didn't start drinking this stuff sooner! Even though I was eating healthy and exercising regularly something was missing and I've found the missing block. I can't even begin to list the benefits that I have felt in such a short period of time and now it's completely my passion to share better health with those I care about. Great health starts internally. 

Photo credit: www.monavie.com 

Don't hesitate to leave me a comment with questions, concerns or just to say hi! I love answering questions about MonaVie and just plain old chit-chat about the kids!