BSI: Coconut

I’m not too happy to report that the weather didn’t improve much from yesterday!! The roads were quite slick this morning which made driving to work a challenge to say the least! The sun did try to peek out a few times, but lost its battle with the clouds!

I found a nice ripe pear in the fridge last night. Seeing as I don’t keep fruit in the fridge, I’m guessing that one of my lovely children brought it home from school and hid it from me way in the back! Sneaky, sneaky! I left it on the counter so I could incorporate it in my breakfast this morning.

-1 cup water
-1/3 cup oat bran
-cinnamon
-dash of almond extract
-chopped up pear
-2 tbsp egg whites
-slivered almonds
-PC cinnamon sprinkles
I cooked up the first 5 ingredients and then hit it up with the immersion blender until smooth, and then I stirred in the egg whites, poured it into a bowl and sprinkled away! This came out very thick and creamy which I loved!

I had my normal snack of prunes and a piece of chocolate banana bread before the gym. I’ll spare you the repeat pictures today!!! I have one piece of the bread left and I think DD has claimed it for her lunch tomorrow!

At the gym I did the same as yesterday, but on a different treadmill. Today’s machine is calibrated in kilometers so it took me a few minutes to get my speed to what I’m used to! So I did 40 minutes on the ‘mill and 6 minutes of ab work as per the OSG BBCC. The 2 exercises I picked from Wiggs were the oblique crunches and the upright crunches. I still need to do another set of each tonight.

Time: 46 minutes
Avg Hr: 163
Max Hr: 193 (I think my HRM had a blip…I didn’t feel that rough!)
Calories Burned: 431
Distance: 4.04 miles

I packed my leftover veggie curry for lunch today and was looking forward to eating it all morning!
I love the sweet pop of the raisins in this recipe! And then there were some pepper strips and jalapeno hummus….
After said peppers my hand found its way to the office candy jar where I found these...
Multiply what you see by 2 and that would probably be a more accurate amount! :) Just before I left to go home I got really hungry so I quickly ate my container of strawberries that I packed;
I decided to bake my BSI recipe as soon as I got home and while it was in the oven, I threw in the Shred DVD. I haven't made a BSI since before Christmas and when I saw that Marianne chose coconut, I knew I had to bake something!!! Here's my recipe!!!

Coconut Lime Oat Bars

Bars:
-1 cup oats
-1/4 cup whole wheat flour
-3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-2 Tbsp agave nectar
-1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
-1/4 cup plain yogurt
-1/4 cup Egg Beaters
-1 tsp coconut extract

Glaze:
-1/4 cup powdered sugar
-2 tsp lime juice

-1/4 cup toasted coconut (for topping)

*preheat oven to 350 deg
*combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl
*combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl
*Add wet to dry and stir until just combined
* pour batter in a greased 8x8 pan
*bake for 25 minutes
*allow to cool completely on a wire rack
*in the meantime, mix the powdered sugar and lime juice until you get a glaze like consistency. *Pour over bars and spread to edges
*sprinkle with toasted coconut and cut into 9 bars

Here’s the nutrition information from Spark People;
Nutrition Facts
Calories 119.5 Total Fat 3.6 g Total Carbohydrate 19.9 g Dietary Fiber 1.7 g Sugars 7.1 g Protein 2.9 g


I have to toot my own horn here for a minute because these bars turned out FABULOUS!!! The bars themselves are not very sweet at all so the lime glaze adds the perfect amount of sweetness. The toasty coconut adds a nice little crunch! I'll be packing most of these up for my co-workers to enjoy because I do not trust myself not to eat them...all at once!! *Note to self--do not eat toasted coconut out of the hot pan ever again. It's like eating scalding hot pop rocks!!!*

My hubby was shifted back to days for the rest of the week which is nice! DS had hockey tonight so he was able to take him. Unfortunately, his ice time fell over the supper hour so dinner wasn't a family event, rather a grab what you feel like eating type thing. I pulled a portion of Chicken Divan out of the freezer and served it over a bright green bed of kale sauteed with some avocado oil.
What a great meal! It's no surprise that I ate one of the bars for my sweet end! DD ate one, too and oohed and aahed over them as well! I have very exciting laundry folding plans tonight as well as watching the Biggest Loser. I was disappointed on Sunday that the Amazing Race wasn't on, so I hope my show is on tonight!!! Hope you all enjoy the evening!!

Bye for now!!