A Fitness Themed Celebration

Unbelievably, it has been four years since my friends and I started working out together after work.  Four years!  As a thank you to our leader Coach Dana and our company Community LIFE for supporting our group we wanted to bring some treats into our morning meeting.  Since we're a health focused group, we wanted our snacks to have a fitness theme, but also be fun.  So often work celebrations consist of donuts or bagels and cream cheese.  While those are easy and don't take much time (depending on how long the drive-thru line is!), they are not the healthiest option.  Here's the menu we came up with:

Protein "Ball Slams"

Pineapple "Chair Dips"

"Bicep Curl" Krispies

"Goblet Squat" Granola with Yogurt

"G2O"-J

Coach Dana was very surprised and the food was a hit!  The Protein Balls and Pineapple Dip were the stars of the show.  Both were very simple to make - they, along with the rice cereal treats, didn't take much time nor were they expensive.  Here are the recipes from our celebration:

Protein "Ball Slams"

adapted from Chef Savvy's 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Energy Bites

www.chefsavvy.com

1-1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup honey

Place all five ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.

Roll into 24 balls If they are difficult to roll, place the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and try again.  Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Protein Ball Slams

Pineapple "Chair Dips"

adapted from Belly Full's Pineapple Nilla Dip

www.bellyfull.net

8 whole Nilla wafer cookies

1 -8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained and squeezed of its liquid

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a food processor or Ziploc bag and a rolling pin, blend/smash cookies until they are finely ground.

Place all ingredients (including the ground cookies) into a medium bowl.  Using a hand mixer, beat until well combined.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Serve with Nilla wafers, graham crackers, celery or the dipping agent of your choice!

Pineapple Chair Dips

"Bicep Curl" Krispies

1 - 9 oz box of Crispy Rice Cereal

2 - bags of mini marshmallows

1 stick of butter

Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over low heat.  Once butter is melted, add the 2 bags of marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.  

Once melted, remove from heat and add rice cereal.  Stir until coated.  Press into the greased 9X13 pan.  

Allow to cool.  Cut into bars and serve. 

Bicep Curl Krispies

We concluded our celebration at the end of the day with a fun workout, gifts for our Coach and of course - CAKE!  The delicious fresh fruit filled layer cake was from Oakmont Bakery (www.oakmontbakery.com).

I've learned over the past several years that "healthy" food is tasty, but it tastes even better and is more fun when you share it with friends!  

Happy Four Years Team Muscle!!

Coach Dana

Tank from www.toughcookieclothing.com

Recipe: Baked Oatmeal Cups

I've made two batches of these incredibly yummy Baked Oatmeal Cups for my co-workers this week. My picky 14 year-old liked them, too!  So I had to take a minute to share this easy recipe with you.

Baked Oatmeal Cup with Cranberries

Baked Oatmeal Cups
Makes 16

2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1-1/2 cups milk (I used 1%)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 T ground cinnamon
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
Toppings of your choice - fruit (fresh or dried), chocolate chips, nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line muffin tins with liners (don't skip this step!)
3.  Combine the eggs, oil and brown sugar until sugar is dissolved
4. Add the applesauce, milk, vanilla, salt and cinnamon.  Stir till combined.
5. Stir in the oats and baking powder.
6. Fill each muffin tin with 1/4 cup of oat mixture.
7. Top with your favorite toppings.  Lightly press the topping into the mixture with a spoon.  (I used dried cranberries, chocolate chips, fresh banana and left some plain.)
8. Bake for 30 minutes.
9. Serve warm or store in an air tight container.  These can also be frozen to grab on busy mornings!

Besides this great recipe, I have to share why I made them.  My AWESOME team at Community LIFE (an adult day health center in Pittsburgh, PA serving low-income frail elderly who are medically eligible to be in a nursing home, but desire to live in the community - www.commlife.org) recently received the Inaugural Quality Leaders' Award for Excellence in Quality Improvement for our UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) Prevention Project.  Part of our Project includes serving cranberry juice to our Participants every morning, so when I brought in some breakfast treats to celebrate I wanted them to have cranberries.  I enjoy cooking for my Team and especially like to share healthy dishes for them to try.

Community LIFE's Loving Hearts Team with our
Award and Cranberry Juice!

These are easy to bake, easy to grab for a breakfast on the go and easy to share with others!  ENJOY!

Recipe adapted from www.thewholesomedish.com's To Go Baked Oatmeal