What I Ate Wednesday: Treat Edition

Hey, hey, hey!



Who remembers that?! Fat Albert was my favorite as a kid! I also thought it quite appropriate since he eats a lollipop during that song and I am basically bringing you a treat edition of 

This past week was not a great week for me nutrition wise, but I am still posting because guess what...I am human and those weeks happen. I don't punish myself for it because that is counterproductive. I won't be gaining anything from it and I can't change it. Instead, I shall embrace it!

Mmmmm...Calzone....

Nutella pizza...this was amazing. To read more about this dish click here. 

Great end of dinner treat...Americano!

Hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows on a snowy winter's day...we barely moved from the bed that day.

This is an award winning Kiwi Martini. Made with a delicious kiwi puree...Had a be careful though because it was just so good!

I suppose it wasn't all bad...these were our breakfast on Tuesday. Fruit parfaits (& a little X3).

As you can see I am still on track with X3. I just entered the second transition week. I love this week because it is all total body work. Nothing super high cardio, just deep down muscle work, then lots of stretching. I think these weeks are where I see the most improvement in my body.

So, here's what I've looked like this last week:

Wednesday: X3 Yoga (my fave!)

Thursday: MMX

Friday: CVX

Saturday: Incinerator

Post workout Saturday. This was an accomplishment because it was the workout I almost didn't do. I was so busy Saturday morning I didn't workout first thing. Usually if it doesn't get done early, I don't do it. But, it was snowing and there was nothing to distract me so I focused and pressed play!

Sunday: Rest day...and rest we did! It was snowing all day, the teenagers cheer was cancelled so we literally laid in bed, watched TV (Guy's grocery games is my new favorite show), and napped.

Monday: Isometrix

Held crow for 10 seconds, but was able to hold
the position almost the whole time!

Some sort of dancer something. This stretches the hips
nicely!

Tuesday: Dynamix

Breathing hard through left banana. My core is
becoming so strong!

Me pre-workout, I was doing a bit of photography,
so decided to snap a pic of myself...don't let that smile
fool you, my feet were really numb!!! Our balcony
was super icy.

Tell me, what did you do for yourself this week?

S'mores pops! Anybody want a s'mores pop???

This past weekend , since we didn't do a whole lot outside of the house I made myself super busy inside the house! Last year I was more of a store bought cookie kind of gal because it was super difficult for me to get used to the dark dreary days of living in the PACNW. This year however I was determined to make things different and decided to cook up some treats!

Here is the first of the treats I made. It is super simple and requires very little actual cooking.

S'mores Treat Pops
-Candy lollipop sticks
-Large Marshmallows
-Semi-sweet chocolate chips
-Graham Cracker Crumbs
-Milk
-Large, parchment covered plate
Optional: Washi tape

1. The first thing I did was decide how many pops I actually wanted to make. My bag of pop sticks came with 50 so I decided 25 would be enough so I had 25 sticks for a later project. I picked out my 25 & covered them in various colours and patterns of washi.

2. Take a pop stick and stick it into a marshmallow, repeat this for however many marshmallows you choose to make.

3. Measure out half a cup (1 cup) of chocolate chips, add a dash of milk (1/2  tablespoon or so, add slowly because you can always add more, but can't take it away). Melt in microwave in 10-15 second increments and stir until smooth. (Be very careful not to overheat as then you will have something that resembles burnt fudge and that is no bueno.)

4. Pour a bit of graham cracker crumbs into a dish. Make sure they cover the bottom of the dish you are using. I would say you'll need at least a half cup of crumbs. Also, get out a large size plate and cover it with parchment paper or wax paper.

5. Take one marshmallow and dip it into the melted chocolate, then dip it into the graham cracker crumbs. Place it on the parchment covered plate to harden. Repeat this until you have covered as many marshmallows as you want! If it is fairly warm in your home (we keep ours set at Caribbean) you may want to place your plate in the fridge for a bit so the chocolate can harden.

6. For storage I have mine on the kitchen counter in plastic bags and they are doing great! If you wanted to give these as a gift you could easily cover them with some saran and a piece of ribbon, especially if you coordinated it all to your washi!

What is your favourite no-bake holiday treat????

Easter Review!!!

So, I haven't been feeling terribly well the last few days, but am finally up & at 'em again! A healthy diet, good workouts, and lots of rest got me through! My awesome hubby made sure I didn't overdo it and that I got all the rest I needed! So, I am here to tell y'all a bit about our Easter weekend (a week late lol) & talk about the Easter baskets my daughter & I put together. I know it is a bit late but hopefully there will be some ideas to put on your list for next year!!!

So, our Easter weekend Started our early as hubby had Friday off so we just got errands done and relaxed  as a family. Hubs did "research" for work & played a video game all day while the kiddo & I did all the grocery shopping. She was a champ at Costco but felt "cheated" because there weren't many sample stations out. :( Honestly I felt cheated too lol Then Saturday it was a gorgeous day here in Vancouver so we headed out to our favorite local place & sat on their patio for a few hours, then headed to dessert at our favorite waffle bar. Sunday we cooked a largeish dinner, did baskets, delivered baskets, and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful Vancouver weather!!!

On to the good stuff though! So, my daughter follows a young lady on YouTube called Macbarbie07. I've watched several of her video's & think she is super cute & is one of the few people I don't mind my daughter following because I think her video's and fashion advice are very appropriate for girls their age. Well, there was a video on Easter gift ideas. My daughter followed many of the ideas on here & put together baskets for her closest friends. First she thought about the things her friends like & what sort of DIY stuff she could put in there. She decided first on the blown out message eggs included in the video tutorial. That was fun!!! (Tip: if you get blue food coloring on your rented walls/tile floor use peroxide to get it out!). She did find though when you are blowing out the egg it is much easier to blow it out when you cut the straw down & make a short straw. Also, cutting the straw in to many pieces & just using a new piece each time was the easiest thing to do. Also, we found making a couple extra helped because some broke when putting the message inside. ;)

Top left: Peeps, paper bag scrapbook, snow globe, diy hair bow, a candy filled egg, and message egg

Top right: Chocolate bunny, snow globe, painting kit, and message egg

Bottom left: diy hair bow, message egg, candy egg, diy makeup remover (half olive oil/half filtered water)

Bottom right: Chocolate bar, lip gloss, nail polish, message egg, candy filled egg

Most tutorials can be found on the MacBarbie07 YouTube channel as linked above. Here is how to make the paper bag scrapbook.

Paper bag Scrapbook

One paperbag

Photos

Cardstock

Fold the paper bag in half. Fold the card stock long ways & cut in half. Fold over the fold of the paper bag and glue down. Choose a picture for the front & crop to fit. Add title if you wish. Then, choose which pictures you'd like in the scrapbook. Crop them & you can mount on card stock if you wish & write captions on the back. My daughter however chose to write on the pictures themselves with archival quality markers. Then stick them in the open part of the paper bag! Super simple & super cute!

Now here are the baskets I made hubby & the teen: 

For the teen I did a cute jar centre piece with peeps & robin eggs, a chocolate bunny, another little centre piece with peeps (I thought hubby liked them but he didn't so I gave the teen double lol she wasn't complaining). The eggs were filled with money for Starbucks deliciousness, then a couple of bright notepads for school & list making. Then, hubby got a basketball basket (since it is his favorite time of year afterall), with some goodies to keep him awake all  night for his "research" (aka video game playing, must be nice to be a designer & have your excuse to play video games be work related), then those are our gorgeous eggs!!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday last weekend & that your April has started off with wonderful showers to bring those May flowers!!! :)

Cheers!