Pinterest-Inspired Healthy Breakfast Bowl

With 2013 winding down and the new year around the corner, I thought I'd share a new healthy snack/breakfast with you. Many of my friends are making it a goal to be healthy in 2014, and lots of friends on twitter are participating in #500in2014, where we run 500 miles by the end of the year!

I discovered this snack/breakfast idea on Pinterest, and it's from Caitlin over at healthytippingpoint.com. I pinned it a while ago, but it's just been recently that I tried it. One of the reasons I tried it is because I started using an app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal, which tracks everything I eat during the day as well as my exercise. I am loving the app (and hating at the same time!) because it is motivating me to search for healthy snacks and meals. 

I entered the bowl into the app so that I could see how many calories are in the meal. Seeing the breakdown on the app lets me know that I need to go down to only 1 dark chocolate square. I can leave it out all together, but I like the mild flavor, and dark chocolate has many health benefits. While the walnuts add a lot of calories, there is research that shows that walnuts are good for brain functioning. Actually, the walnuts, blueberries, and oats are all "superfoods." The Greek yogurt ups the protein in the meal, and the banana gives good flavor as well as potassium. 

While the fat content is high, I'm okay with it because I know that it's my highest-ranking meal of the day for fats, and I would rather have it first thing in the morning rather than later in the day. 

My favorite feature of the app is that it has a bar code scanner where you can scan labels to enter your food. I was able to scan the barcode from the yogurt, walnuts, oats, and chocolate. Easy peasy!

If you try this or have other combination ideas, I'd love to hear from you! 

Best wishes for a healthy you in the new year!

-Nif

I'm sharing here:

          

Christmas Traditions and the Best Grits Breakfast Casserole Ever {recipe}

We have a peculiar special tradition in our family, and I think it must be a Southern thing. Since I can remember, every year on Christmas Eve and Christ Day, we try to be the first one to say "Christmas Eve Gift!" or "Christmas Gift!" to each other.

My dad always said that if you "got" the other person, he or she was supposed to give you a gift. (No gifts are ever exchanged, just braggin' rights for a year!)

I still have fond memories of my grandmother calling each year and trying to "get" us. It was even more fun when we were together on those special days. We would wake up and try to be the first with our gleeful shouts of "Christmas Eve Gift!" or "Christmas Gift!"

This tradition has resulted in phone calls just past midnight to "catch" my mom or dad in their sleep only to hear an enthusiastic "Christmas Eve Gift!" at the other end of the line, or having my kids to answer the phone so that I can pick up another line and shout out the words before anyone notices I'm on the line. 

In our 21 years of marriage, my husband has "gotten" me one time, and I love passing on the tradition to my girls. My daughters spend the night with my parents the night before Christmas Eve, and this year when I woke up on the morning of Christmas Eve I noticed my youngest daughter had called me at 12:03am and left a voicemail. It could only mean one thing, and of course I didn't listen to it! :)

After some Googling, I've found that there are other families with the "Christmas Eve Gift" tradition (although I've only known two other people outside of my extended family with this tradition.) Here's a link with A LOT of families with the tradition.

Another tradition is the Grits Breakfast Casserole that I make for Christmas morning. I love being able to make it ahead of time, pull it out Christmas morning and let it warm in the oven while we open gifts. 

The recipe is from the Laurel Hill Plantation Bed & Breakfast near Charleston, South Carolina. I printed it from the 1st Traveler's Choice Virtual Cookbook in November 2000, and have made it every year but one since then.

Ingredients:
2 lbs bulk sausage
1 cup raw grits, cooked
2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
5 eggs
1-1/2 C milk
1/2 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste

Brown and drain sausage and crumble in bottom of 9 x 13-inch greased casserole dish. Cook grits according to package directions (stiff is better than runny.) Add butter and cheese to cooked grits. Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together and add to the slightly cooled grits mixture. Pour over sausage in the casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

What Christmas traditions do you celebrate at your home?

Low-Fat Peppermint Treats + The Best Tip for Decorating with Melted Chocolate

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I have been using the app called My Fitness Pal on my iPhone to keep track of my calories and exercise. You also may know that I love Starbucks, but you may not know that I love peppermint. 

Needless to say, I don't like entering Starbucks Peppermint Mocha drinks into the MyFitnessPal app, but I just learned that they have a SKINNY Peppermint Mocha! Yay!

I really wanted a sweet treat to have over the holidays, but not one that would bust my diet completely. 

I was really glad to find Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles by Amy over at her blog, Foods for the Soul. 

They look incredibly yummy, and the best part is that there are only 4 ingredients in them! Thank you, Amy - I can't wait to try them!

As I was looking for low-fat peppermint treats, I stumbled on the.best.tip.ever.

I wish I had known about it when Hubs and I decorated all of the Christmas treats for our daughters' teachers. We used the "shake it off the spoon" technique.... I think this method would have been a lot less messy! :)

Melissa used this technique for her Holiday Peppermint Oreo Balls, a treat I think I would love but MyFitnessPal would hate. 

Do you have any low-fat peppermint recipes to share with me?

Christmas Treats for Teachers + Printable Gift Tags

I love Christmas! The gifts and treats that are on blogs and Pinterest are amazing and so inspiring, and I feel like I spend way TOO much time looking at Pinterest!  

My friend Holly is also amazing... she has two young boys and she is always creating and coming up with super ideas!

She recently spent the day with her oldest son's class to create these beauties. She partially painted the canvases, then the kids did the rest. 

Here's what she did last year with her son's class. She is SO creative!

I needed something for my daughters' teachers, but I didn't need it to break the bank. They both want to give a treat to all of their teachers and coaches, so that means 13 people so far! I needed something that wouldn't break the bank, and I think that homemade candies and goodies are a great gift to give (and receive!) Holly inspired this year's treats when she invited secretaries, nurses, counselors, and administrators to her home for her annual Christmas celebration. (More to come below....)

Last year, I read a post where someone bought Christmas tree-shaped jars after Christmas for one-half off the original price. So when I visited the after-Christmas sales last year, I bought an entire case of them! 

But I needed something to fill them.... this is where my friend Holly comes in. When we visited her home for her annual Christmas party, one of the treats she served was white- and dark chocolate-drizzled pretzels with red, white, and green sprinkles. 

Then I visited a local store and found Utz' holiday shaped pretzels, and I knew I was in business!

First things first...

I simply spread wax paper over all the kitchen counters and bar area and placed the pretzels in one layer.

Then the fun part.... drizzling the chocolate over the pretzels and shaking the round sprinkles over them. 

All 15 jars were full, with many left over! 

I found these terrific printable chalkboard gift tags from Simply Kierste and think they are perfect for teacher gifts! 

What are you giving for Christmas treats this year?