Chocolate Covered PB Balls

January 16, 2015 / ktbuchs87

When I was younger, my sister, mom, and I would spend most of our summer days at the park district pool. My sister and I would play in the pool all day while my mom would read by the side of the pool. Our park district pool was actually really awesome. It had slides, diving boards, drop slides, waterfalls, sprinklers, and a sand pit. Needless to say it was hours of fun and we would play to exhaustion. Like most pools there was a mandatory break every hour where everyone had to get out of the pool for 15 minutes. During this time we would eat the snacks that my mom brought along. She had frozen grapes, pretzels, and peanut butter balls. Those peanut butter balls were awesome. They were sweet, bite size, and provided more energy to play in the sun all day long.

I haven’t had those peanut butter balls in a really long time, but I thought about turning them into a dessert for the holidays. All I did was tweak a few of the ingredients and then obviously I had to dip them in chocolate to make them even better than before.

These were a hit and they are a great little treat to keep on hand for when you need something a little sweet. While the ingredients are healthier than say a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, this is still a treat. So try not to shove five in your face at once. Not like I’ve done that….

Chocolate Covered PB Balls

Peanut Butter Balls

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup oat flour (grind regular oats until you have a fine powder)
1/4 tsp salt (less if your peanut butter has salt)

Chocolate Covering

1 bar of 100% Cacao baking chocolate
1-2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp coconut oil

1. In a large bowl mix together peanut butter, maple syrup, salt and honey. Slowly add in the oat flour until you have a dough. You might not use the full 1/2 cup or you might need more.

2. Using a tablespoon, scoop out some peanut butter dough and roll into balls. Place onto a baking sheet lined with foil. Once you have used all the dough, place the baking sheet into the freezer.

3. Either using a double broiler or a microwaveable bowl, melt the baking chocolate. Before adding the maple syrup, make sure it is room temperature. If you add it in cold, the chocolate will seize up and you will have a clumpy mess (trust me, not fun). Add in room temperature syrup and oil and stir to combine.

4. Remove peanut butter balls from the freezer. Using a fork, dunk the balls into the chocolate covering and place back on the baking sheet. If you want to make them fancy, you can sprinkle with sea salt, crushed peanuts or other nut. Once you are done place the peanut butter balls back into the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Keep these in a container in either the freezer or refrigerator until you’re ready to eat. If you’re a huge fan of the pb/chocolate combo then these are going to be your new favorite thing. I think that I might have to keep them on hand at all times…..

What is your favorite flavor combo?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Butternut Peanut Stew

January 9, 2015 / ktbuchs87

If you have been living under a rock for the past week, I may have some shocking news for you. It’s cold. Not just, “Oh it’s slightly chilly out there, better zip up”. It’s full on cover every inch of your body in three layers of the warmest clothing you have so you don’t turn into a human popsicle the minute you step outside cold. I don’t mind cold weather, but when it gets this cold I just want to burrow into a nest of my warmest blankets and drink hot cocoa. I’m sure some of you have the same feelings. So in an attempt to get you warm and give you some comfort, I have a delicious stew for you.

This stew is hearty, comforting, warm, tasty, and will hit the spot after a long cold day. Plus you can make it in your slow cooker so you can start it before you go to work and come home to a healthy and hot meal. Now I ask you, what’s better than that?

Butternut Peanut Stew

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight or 1 can of chickpeas
3-4 cups butternut squash, cubed
1 large red bell pepper, diced (you can use green too)
1 onion, diced
1 can of full fat coconut milk (NOT light, trust me)
4 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh ginger, roughly chopped
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne, more if you want it spicier
1 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a food processor or blender add garlic, tomatoes, ginger, peanut butter, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, curry powder, and cilantro. Blend until you have a thick paste.

2. Place drained and rinsed chickpeas, onions, peppers, and butternut squash in a slow cooker. Pour in peanut paste and add in coconut milk. Stir until everything is well combined. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

3. Toward the end of the cook time stir every so often. If it’s getting too dry, add in a little water. Add salt and pepper if needed.

This stew is great on it’s own, but if you want an even heartier meal, you can serve it over rice or pasta. Hopefully these temperatures will warm up just a touch but until then make yourself some of this yummy stew! Happy Friday!

What tricks do you have to keep warm in frigid temps?

My 2015 Goals

January 5, 2015 / ktbuchs87 / 2 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope that all of you have had a great holiday season and you are ready to get going on 2015! I was able to spend some quality time with family this week and enjoyed having my husband around while he was on break from work. Now it’s time to get back to our regularly scheduled program and I have so many things to share with you!

I’ve never really been one to make resolutions, but I do like having goals that I am working to achieve. I wanted to share some of my goals here on the blog because it’s helpful to have a place where you can be kept accountable as well as stating your goals out loud. So here are my 2015 goals.

Keep working on balance.

I started this a few months ago, but it is something that I am still working on. I want to be more balanced in my life. For so long when it came to my health I was super strict. I had to be or else I would have gone right back to my old habits. Now that I have gotten to a place in my life that I am happy with my health, I don’t have to be as rigid in my habits. If I don’t run every day, I won’t lose any ground. If I decide to eat more than I normally do, I won’t immediately gain weight. If I take a few days of rest, I won’t slip back into my old habits. Life happens and I want to be able to enjoy it and roll with the punches and not feel like I am losing everything that I have worked for. I’m doing better but I want to improve throughout the year.

Make a fitness goal.

Looking back I have never really made a fitness goal other than work out. So this year I want to make a fitness goal and then work towards achieving it. There are two things that I want to do this year. The first is to run a race with a family member. For me running has been a very solitary sport, and in some aspects I really like that. I like the peace that I find out on the trail early in the morning. I can sort out my thoughts and just enjoy the quiet. But I would love to be able to share my passion for running with people who are close to me. My second fitness goal is to run a half marathon. Ultimately I want to run a marathon, but I think a half would be a good place to start. I’m aiming for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in July, so check back to see how I’m doing on that!

Expand the blog

This summer I did a relaunch of my blog and made it a little more user friendly. I want to keep growing though and be able to reach more people and help them towards their health goals. I’m going to add more recipes and simple tips that I use for being healthier. I’m also going to start adding short videos that show how to make some delicious and healthy meals. My ultimate goal for this blog is to help show people that it doesn’t have to be hard/complicated/expensive to be healthy. By adding more tips and videos that can showcase this, I think that I will be better able to serve my readers.

Grow my knowledge

I haven’t been in a formal classroom setting for about four years now and while I’m not jumping up and down to return, I am finding myself wanting to learn more about things I love. A few months ago I became certified in sports nutrition and I really enjoyed that. I want to expand on that and better educate myself so that I can better help others. I am looking into becoming certified in nutritional therapy as well as getting a plant-based nutrition certification. The more I know the more I can share and help you!

Share the wealth

One of my final and biggest goals for 2015 is to start working one on one with people. Of all the aspects of being healthier, cooking and food are definitely my passion. I want to start working with people to help teach them how to cook healthier for their everyday lives. I’ve been teaching myself and honing my own kitchen skills over the years and I think that it’s time for me to share that with you! I will be working on this for the next few weeks and once I have a solid plan ironed out I will make sure that you are the first to know!

So that’s what my 2015 is going to entail. I have a lot of big goals and dreams that I want to accomplish and I am excited to start working on making those happen. I hope that by making these all public it will help me stay accountable and get things done!

How about you? Do you have any goals for your year that you want to share?

A Very Dawson Christmas

December 29, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Hello! I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and were able to enjoy time with friends and family. I know that the Monday after a holiday can be a little bit of a bummer, so I thought that I would share pictures with you of my Christmas celebration to cheer you up. There are even pictures of cats, so they are automatically better!

Adam and I have started a little tradition by celebrating our own Christmas after actual Christmas. We spend the day in our pj’s watching Christmas movies, opening presents, and making delicious food. This was our third year doing this and it was one of the best!

Our Christmas tree and the stockings hung by the (faux) chimney with care. Plus the first of many pictures of Olaf. It was his first Christmas and I think he loves it just as much as I do. Our other cat Dot wanted nothing to do with the festivities and slept in the bedroom all day long.

Speaking of cats, of course they have their own stocking and we fill it with new toys for them. Olaf actually managed to get all of the stuff out of the stocking all on his own. He liked the laser pointer and this yellow stuffed dog the best.

He’s pretty adorable. Us humans open our presents over the course of the day. Every time we start a new Christmas movie we open another present. I would say that this year was a good year for both of us. Adam got a new beard trimmer, a t-shirt, books, and candy. I got a new teapot, oven mitts, and books/cookbook. Apparently we both think alike because our big gifts to each other were new bags. I got Adam a new leather messenger bag for work so he could look all fancy and professional and he got me an awesome new black purse that is much better than the bright orange paisley tote bag that I have been using for the past few months.

This is his happy face. Back off ladies he’s mine

Super excited about this book. And you can see my fancy new teapot down in the corner

The other fun part of our Christmas is making a bunch of food that we don’t normally make. This year we made pretzels, which were really easy and fun to make. I also made some fried plantains and egg nog, devoured before I could take pictures. For an appetizer I made spinach/artichoke dip without any dairy (so good, I’ll share the recipe soon!), and we had some pumpkin chips to dip. Then for Adam’s dinner I made slow cooker italian beef and he made homemade buns. I had some delicious butternut squash seasoned with some new seasonings I got from Adam’s side of the family. It was an awesome feast! There were also a variety of cookies and treats for dessert!

Pretzel maker extraordinaire!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I really love that Adam and I have been able to start some of our own traditions. On actual Christmas this year we were able to spend the day with both sides of our family. We started the day with my parents and my sister and her fiance and then headed over to Adam’s grandparents for Christmas dinner and were able to see his (many) aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as his mom and his stepdad.

Overall it was a fabulous holiday. We were able to spend time with so many family members and shared and made plenty of new memories. My heart is full and I can’t wait to see what the new year brings! Have a great rest of the week and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Friday Favorites: Christmas Edition

December 19, 2014December 19, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I haven’t done a Friday Favorites in a while and I think with the rush of the season it’s a good day to let you in on some of my favorite Christmas-y things.

CHRISTMAS!!!

I don’t care if I’m 27 years old, I still get as excited as a small child about Christmas. Fall may be my favorite season, but without a doubt Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love all of the traditions that come along with this holiday. I love the gathering of friends and family. I love the food and treats that only come along this time of year. I love all the shows and specials and movies that come on TV around this time. I love walking outside right around twilight with a light snow falling. As cheesy as it may sound there really is something magical about Christmas. I still wake up at 4 am on Christmas morning and sneak downstairs to look at the tree and the stockings and take in the beauty of the day. I know that some people can’t stand this time of year. They don’t like the commercialism of the season, they don’t like the rush of activity, and the never ending list of things to do. But I think if we can all remember that feeling of magic that comes very early on Christmas morning and the true gift that we were given, just maybe we can all enjoy Christmas just a little more.

Special Treats

I mentioned before that I love the food that comes along with this season. I actually love food, but I really like the seasonal treats that pop up. Things like eggnog, cookies, and hot chocolate are amazing. I have actually been slowly working through some of my favorite childhood treats and making them a little healthier so that I can enjoy them once again. Some of my favorite “re-dos” have been eggnog and hot chocolate. I also like this version of mexican wedding cakes and I have been working on a healthier chocolate covered peanut butter balls. It’s fun to find new ways to enjoy treats that I didn’t think I could. Plus it’s nice to join in with everyone else and enjoy a cookie or two!

My Cranberry Sauce

I know, another food thing. I like to eat! But seriously I can’t get enough of this cranberry sauce. I put it on everything and sometimes just eat it with a spoon for a snack. It is the perfect combo of sweet/tart/spicy/awesome. If you haven’t made it yet, go to your kitchen immediately. I’m serious. Go.

Downtown

My family has a tradition of going downtown each Christmas. We go to the Christkindl market, look at the windows at Marshall’s, go out to eat, and just take in all the Christmas sights. Now that I live in Chicago, I can go walk around downtown whenever I want and it still hasn’t lost it’s appeal. I like seeing all the lights and decorations and people. I have gone a few time this year and just walked up and down the mag mile. Maybe I’m weird, but I just like being out and about during this time of year even if I have nothing to do. I told you I love Christmas, and I really do love everything about it! This weekend we’re actually heading downtown for our “official” trip and to celebrate my sister’s birthday. I can’t wait!

Christmas Movies

Who doesn’t like Christmas movies? There are so many good ones, but a few of my top ones are Elf, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Santa Clause, Scrooged, and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. There are a million more and I probably own half of them. When Adam and I celebrate our own little Christmas we spend the day opening presents, eating appetizers, and watching all of our movies. It’s one of my favorite new traditions that we started when we got married.

I know this was kind of a personal Christmas edition of Friday Favorites, but I wanted to help spread some Christmas cheer. Of course I could just take Buddy the Elf’s advice and sing loud for all to hear! I’m going to be taking a little break from regular blog posts until after the new year so I can enjoy this time with my family. So until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!