yoga cookies

Work took its sweet time to get to 5 o’clock today! but its finally the weekend!!! 🙂  woohooo

 

Today I finally used the Bear Naked granola sample I received a while ago. I had it as my mid morning snack with some plain yogurt. I miss this granola. When I first started my job, this was my every day snack. I got kinda bored of it and stopped eating it for a while, so it was nice to be eating it again. The fruit and nut flavor is a favorite classic. 

I was able to get to the gym today during lunch, and did a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill then a 5 mile bike ride on the espresso bike. In case you didn’t read my post on when I used this bike before, its an interactive bike, and you can pick the course, and its like a virtual game. You are racing other riders, and have to actually turn the handles to go around the course. It is the MOST fun cardio machine ever. Today I picked the 5 mile course along the beach of Cali! 🙂 a nice little escape for about 20 minutes. I originally planned on doing a 30 minute run, but after the 10 minutes on the treadmill, i started feeling my IT band. I hadn’t felt that since field hockey, so i figured it would be best to do something a little less pounding and hopped on the espresso bike. i’m going to try and run outside tomorrow, i’m going to aim for 4 miles? That will be the longest i’ve run in a while. lets hope i can do it! 

After lunch I ate an Amys Burrito – especial. My first time trying this type of burrito, and  i really liked it. It tasted great. I am not sure which is my favorite burrito from Amy. They’re all so good. I also had a side of the butternut squash from last night.. YUMMMMM i love it. I snacked on a coconut and almond KIND bar (yea Kate!!) and went to heaven. It’s my ultimate bar. I was sooooo bored at work that I started falling asleep sitting up at my desk 😮  so I had a packet of vanilla chai I had in my drawer. I loveee this, you just add water and its the creamiest chai. I have been trying to cut back on caffeine, but there was no way i could make it through the rest of the day without taking a nap underneath my desk unless I had something. This was the perfect cup of chai.This Oregon Chai brand and Big Train Chai are both my favorite brands of vanilla chai. 

 

On my way home from work I dropped by Trader Joe’s for a few ingredients for some cookies I wanted to bake tonight, and then dropped by Marshalls. I am such a bargain shopper. I LOVE great deals. I found the cutest tank top! I can’t wait until it warms up so I can wear it. I was just too excited to not show you guys. Its Juicy Couture and its chiffon. This baby was originally $238 and I got it for….. $29.99!! I couldn’t pass it up! My favorite part is the back, its so cute. and the bow on the front i love too. Whenever I get something new I always want to wear it the next day haha. Too bad its winter. 

When I finally got home my mom and I decided to go to Panera for dinner. Got the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich again, with the new chicken tortilla soup! the soup was really good. I asked for no tortilla strips, and got an apple on the side. Never can go wrong with the You Pick Two option. 

When I went to Long Island to visit my boyfriend a while back, I went to his moms yoga studio to take a class and one of the women there had just got back from a yoga retreat. She said that after they would get out of a yoga class they would get these delicious healthy cookies. She brought some and they were soo yummy. She gave me the recipe but I lost it, and was thinking about how good they were today and wanted to make some of my own tonight. I googled up “yoga cookie” and found the recipe from the International Sivananda site! They have a list of vegetarian recipes that are used in the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and Ashrams. I just took it directly from a website, so I’ll link it here. These are awesome, and I used almond milk, so they contained absolutely no dairy. My mom got a jar of local honey for Christmas from a coworker, and I used that in the recipe too. I have a problem with eating cookie dough out of the bowl when I make cookies, so I had 1 baked cookie, and i’m not really sure and don’t really want to know how much dough I ate 🙂 I swear, cookie dough is better than the baked cookie itself. But these are awesome and not too sweet and heres the recipe ! this made a ton of cookies, heres a pic of the first batch.

A few of you guys asked about the recipe for the chicken casserole. It’s originally from a Paula Deen magazine  called Quick and Easy Meals, its from the May 2008 issue that my mom had, so I’ll post the recipe with the modifications we made

Chicken and Artichoke Casserole
makes 6 servings

•  1/2 c butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 1 c half and half or 2% (original called for heavy whipping cream)
• 1 (8oz) package fat free/reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 (5 oz) package grated Parm
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 (14 oz) can quarted artichokes, drained and chopped
• 1 (10oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cups cubed french bread(i used the beer bread I had baked earlier)
• 3 tbsps butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350.Lightly grease a casserole dish. 

In a skillet, melt butter over med-high heat. Add garlic and shallots, cook 2 minutes. Stir in wine, cook 3 mins, add cream ceese and Parm, stirring until combined. Stir in chicken, artichokes, spinach, salt and pepper. remove from heat. spoon into prepared baking dish. 

In a small bowl combine french toast cubes and melted butter, tossing to coat. sprinkle over casserole. Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Instead of butter you could just spray some cooking spray on top, or use some olive oil. Whatever modifications you make though i’m sure it will turn out great. this is a really tasty casserole! especially in these colder months. 

Boy and puppy are here, soundly asleep 🙂 so sweet. 

Enjoy your Saturday!!