granola bars & a happy anniversary

Thank you all so very much on your encouraging comments on my funk this past week. I think just being so tired with work and school really wiped me out, and I have to be more cognoscente of this happening. I can’t run myself ragged without sleep. I also have to make it a priority to get some kind of activity in because it always gets my energy levels up and makes me feel good. I was stuck in the cycle of tiredness, no activity and no sleep which fed the cycle of more tiredness. I always like to think that this too shall pass and I just have to pick myself up for the next week :)

Friday night wasn’t too exciting and we had good ol’ sloppy joe leftovers for dinner. I love how tomato-based dishes taste even better the next day. Boy, these were good! The cinnamon really added that extra sumthin’ sumthin’. The highlight of my night was a new energy bar experiment! Getting in the kitchen always makes me feel better and I really wanted to try these when Emily had a guest post of Dan’s Pumpkin Spice Bars.

Oh my goodness, these are the BOMB! They are similar to Clif bars, but not as sweet with lots of spice, just the way I like them. The texture was superb, slightly cookie-like, but not as gooey and sticky as Clif bars.

I had a few alterations: (FYI the Kashi Warm Cinnamon Cereal is out of this world, in a bar or not). I couldn’t find red flame raisins, so I just used regular ones. I used mixed nuts instead of walnuts. I only had peanut butter, not almond butter. Had canned sweet potato instead of pumpkin. I also whirled my dates & H20 in the food processor after whirling the cereal.

The bars turned out really wonderful and I put them in baggies for us to take on our rides and have during the week as a yummy snack. Look at those nutritionals . . .

This bar has a great nutritional profile, thanks to the help of the kashi cereal and all the wholesome ingredients. I got 17 bars out of this batch, well not counting the little bit I scraped from the bowl (shhh!)

Other good stuff:

18% Vitamin E, 31% Vitamin B6, 30% folate, 24% Vitamin B12, 54% Manganese, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium . . . awesome!

Also for the bar about 72% CHO, 23% fat, and 14% pro, nice balance for some good energy. Yes, 12% DV of CHO! I don't know why I was thinking of the entire bar, not the %DV that is on the label, hello :) (just having a retard moment)

Thanks Dan and Em for a great bar recipe! Chris told me that he really likes them and wants to eat them all! I will have to make a double batch next time. I’m just wondering when the next installment will be or if we can go into business together?! hehe

Speaking of rides . . . what a better way to banish the funk than going on a nice ride?! aahhh so invigorating, tiring and I loved it. We went on a club ride for about 36 miles and it was great to get back in some activity. I just really miss it when I can’t get it in. I also had a pumpkin spice bar on the ride :) I love how it isn’t too sweet and sits well on my tummy.

That night we decided to have a nice little anniversary celebration at that pizza place we went to last weekend called Settebello. We signed up for their newsletter and they have special pizzas each week. This week was zucchini blossom pizza!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I really wanted to try this, especially since they specified it as a limited appearance!

We started out with a little appetizer called the misto. It had various Italian meats, olives (they weren’t too bitter like regular kalamatas), mushrooms, artichokes, and flatbread.

It was really good, Chris was ravenous from his 62 mile ride that day so he ate most of it. It’s nice to have the bottomless pit around to eat for you :)

But on the other hand, have you seen this study? It’s surprisingly true, darn you Chris! hehe

Along with the appetizer I had a small glass of the Danzante Pinot Grigio. This is my favorite type of white wine. Very fruity, dry, not too grassy and nicely balanced. I just wish their pour was a little bit taller :)

The pizza was really interesting and yummy! It was a white sauce pizza (I traditionally like the tomato-based sauces), with sweet corn, ricotta, mozzarella and topped with zucchini flowers and olive oil. It did need a little something extra so I put some black pepper and chili flakes on mine for just a little heat :)

Zucchini flowers are so neat and taste very delicate and sweet! They matched perfectly with the sweet corn.

Overall it was a great night. We were thinking of going to see The Informant after dinner, but poor Chris was so tired from his ride that we just rented a movie to take home in case we fell asleep. We try to watch movies, but usually both of us are so tired, we just fall asleep to them! We rented Yes Man, and it was actually pretty funny. I myself am a huge Jim Carrey fan, especially Dumb and Dumber!

Today I even got a jump rope and weights class in, yay! Now about that studying . . .

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

What’s your favorite granola/energy bar?