Banana Walnut Protein Muffins

Lately I have been looking for some new ways to get extra protein without having to drink more than one shake. So of course I went out and searched Pinterest for some protein baked goods. Well I found several muffin recipes and decided to do some combining and some winging it and the end result turned out pretty good.  

 

 

Banana Walnut Protein Muffins

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2  bananas
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 3/4 cup oat floor- I used red mill
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 3/4 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/8 cup of stevia
• Honey
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup crushed walnuts

1. Begin by blending your bananas and almond milk in a blender, next in a large bowl mix the banana mixture, egg whites, greek yogurt, and drizzle top with honey

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and add to wet mixture

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4. Line muffin tray, distribute batter evenly and top with crushed walnuts

5. Baked for 25 minutes, possibly a few minutes longer, Enjoy

 

Macros: 95 calories, 1.5 g fat, 15 carbs, 9 g protein

 

I have another protein baked good on the books for tonight, hopefully its good and I will be sharing the recipe next week!

 

 

 

 

A Relaxing Weekend on the Books

Well it is once again Monday, cant say that I am thrilled to say goodbye to the weekend but on to the next one right? This weekend was so nice because it was nothing overly exciting just relaxing and a nice time. Part of the reason our weekends can be so uneventful is because we don't know many people out here in Dallas so we spend most of our time just the two of us, but I'm also super ok with that. I never get tired of spending time with Evan which is why I feel so lucky I get to hang out with him for life... ok sorry mushy moment over.

Lets start this journey on Friday. By that afternoon I was more than ready to get off work and have a free weekend. Like I mentioned I have been tired and burnt out, however I do think this weekend helped a lot. So as soon as I got off I headed home for a bit until Evan got off of work. As soon as he did he picked me up and we headed to a local park to walk around and then enjoy some drinks and dinner at a restaurant in the park.

 

Vitruvian Park 

Patio Drinks

Our View from the Patio

 

We had never been to the Addison Ice House before, we had only seen it we were in the park once before, it just so happened to pop into my head when I was driving home that day and when I mentioned it to Evan he thought it was a great idea. Part of the reason I really wanted to check it out was simply because they had a nice patio and it had a pretty view of the park. Seriously I think I'm on a hunt for all the best patios in my area, I may need to compile a list. I just want to get in all the patio time possible before it gets scorching hot. To start we ordered some drinks and appetizers and just hung out for a bit, we were in no hurry. Then we decided we might as well stay for dinner. The food here was seriously good, not healthy by any means but very good.

Saturday morning we both got up and got hair cuts, no not a normal thing I make my appointments the same day as my last cut and Evan just thought it was a good time for him to get one as well. After that we hit the gym as usual. I may have taken a nap because I was that tired. Then we decided we wanted to whip up some dinner at home that night (we typically go out on Saturdays) and made a version of a stuffed poblano pepper recipe that I found on Pinterest. They came out great and we really liked it a little different flavor than your typical stuffed bell pepper. Here is my attempt at taking a decent picture of it. I definitely get frustrated at my inability to take a picture of food that actually looks appetizing. After dinner we headed out to see the movie Neighbors, it was really funny in my opinion I enjoyed it. There were even certain parts that just made me miss college.

 

Sunday morning I convinced Evan that we should start the day with brunch and I'm sure glad. We spent the morning sipping mimosas enjoying every interesting but yummy brunch food I wish I had snapped a picture to share. After that we ran errands and cleaned around the house before heading out to the gym. Sunday is our favorite day to go to the gym because the place is always empty which we love. Some days after work our gym is such a mad house there is almost nothing available which is such a treat when you are trying to complete your workout. Then we pretty much relaxed for the rest of the day.

 

Yesterday my sister and I spent a good amount of time on the phone discussing wedding plans which was just so much fun for me. I am so excited and cant wait to get the actual planning under way. Last night I also decided it was time to get started on a project for the wedding party so you better believe I will be heading Hobby Lobby's way on my lunch break today to scout out supplies. I cant wait to share the finished project with you.

 

Happy Monday

-E

Wedding Wednesday?

Well its Wednesday and last week I said I would be changing my Wednesday post to one about wedding related stuff. However at this point I don't have a whole lot of news in that department, but we did book flights back to New Mexico in June to look at venues and hopefully book one. Speaking of which, what would you do if you and your finance were sitting next to each other booking flights and he booked his, handed you the computer and you went to book yours and the prices had just gone up? Yeah. that. happened, you could say I was annoyed but oh well way to excited to kick the planning into gear to care.

Other than that I have been reaching out to tons of vendors, venues and photographers for pricing and info and think we have things pretty narrowed down. We are planning to visit our top 4 venues on our trip and hopefully know which one is the winner soon after.

I have a pretty good idea of what I think I would like for colors, but who knows I guess that could still change. However I would like to commit so I can start a couple DIY projects :) come on you had to have known that was coming I love to craft and certain things could save us money and be a fun project for me.

Hopefully my next installment will be more interesting :)

Happy Wednesday

Mondays Lately List

Well everyone's least favorite day of the week has arrived once more, but I guess we should all do everything we can to make the best of it right? Starting with a slightly different post for this morning,  I just didnt feel up for a weekend recap plus I didnt take any pictures so it wouldve been bored so some updates in the form of a list...

 Lately I have been.....
COOKING: Less than normal it seems, just trying to stick to really healthy options and making large batches for lunches for the week
SIPPING Cherry Limeade Sparkling water... seriously I'm obsessed get yourself some right now
READING Bridal magazines and pretty much nothing else :) but hey no complaints here
LISTENING shuffle Pandora... working perfect for me since my preferences are all over the board this hits them all with a little from each of my genre specific channels
WANTING a day off just to sleep and watch large amounts of TV
WATCHING Greys Anatomy, I have been trying to catch up on the current season 
WAITING for memorial day aka my next long weekend and short work week
ATTEMPTING to stay focused this morning
LIKING the perfect patio weather
HOPING for a painless work week
NEEDING a manicure, gotta keep those hands looking great for when I show off my new bling
TRYING to keep up my macro plan after taking last week off
WEARING bright spring colors as much as possible
LOVING this exciting time in my life
PLANNING a wedding of course
MISSING my friends and family back home and all over
MAKING lists and plans 
NOTICING how blessed I am in life, cant say how thankful I am enough
FEELING overwhelmed with joy and love
LAUGHING  usually at buzzfeed
ADMIRING the sparkle on my finger
BUYING  a mothers day gift
CRAVING the biggest Starbucks ever I am soooo sleepy this morning
DISLIKING that there is no one in my office today

What are your latelys?
-E

Friday Appearance

Hello everyone,

Couldn't be more pleased that my good friend Friday has finally made its appearance. I know I slacked this week and didn't post on Wednesday all I can say is my week has been rough... and the oddest part is there is no obvious reason as to why it was such a hard one. Of course I mean work has been rough and not my person life. However my work load wasn't anymore than usual I guess sometimes you are just tired and burnt out and it makes things seem that much more difficult. That would be me right now I am hoping I can use this weekend to recharge my batteries and be better by Monday. However I wouldn't want to leave you hanging so here is the main thing I'm loving this week (p.s. I was already thinking about moving this post to Fridays to make way for "Wedding Wednesdays" feature.. hope everyone is game)  on that note...

Wedding Planning

 

 

Yes one of the things I am loving this week is of course the start of the wedding planning process. I have started reaching out to vendors and locations for pricing and more info. I will say that this is also scary, I knew weddings were expensive but seriously you wouldn't believe how much certain things cost. I am so excited to go back to New Mexico in June to look at my top locations and pick one, yes we will be getting married in Albuquerque. We have not yet set a date since we have so much time we figured we would base a little bit on our preferred vendor so we don't fall in love with a place then realize its booked for our date. So far we have narrowed it down to a desired time frame of late summer early fall of 2015 specifically August or September. We also think we have our top 3-4 locations picked out to go view while were there. I'm going to come right out and say that I think the hardest decision for this wedding will be picking a photographer. I just feel like that's something you don't want to cheap out on, you want to pick the best one possible and that's a lot of pressure. Basically this person is responsible for your memories for all of time and capturing your special day. Was this how everyone else felt, how did you make the final decision??

 

Love and Support from our Friends and Family

 

After getting engaged I was overwhelmed by how much love and support was sent our way from our families and friends from all over. It was such a great feeling and made us feel so special. Granted we are blessed with some pretty amazing people in our lives but moments like these just serve as a great reminder and for that I am thankful. I am thankful for every person who wished us congratulations, for every person who shared their love and everyone who is as excited for our upcoming wedding as we are.

 

 

That's all I've got for you today since I'm sure you aren't here to hear about my work stuggles ;) I hope everyone has a great weekend!

-E

 

 

 

 

Weekend Recap

Well another weekend has come and gone and now its Monday morning and we are all back at work/ to reality. Its crazy how fast they go by. I guess it really is because you are having a good time and doing the things you enjoy most during those days. This weekend was great to say the least, I will take a weekend like this one anytime. 

Starting with Friday, my Dad happened to be in town for a work meeting so after work I went and picked him up from his hotel. He hadn’t seen our apartment yet so I took him and gave him the tour. We then headed out to dinner, my dad is always great about finding the best restaurants in the area and the place he picked didn’t disappoint. I had actually heard good things about this restaurant before and was excited to finally try it out. After dinner we headed over to Pete’s dueling piano bar down the street. This place is a blast and we had a really great time. We went early and the place was still packed, I assume no matter what time it is on Friday or Saturday it’s going to be a hot spot.  I also already had the idea of a piano bar visit in my mind for my friends bachelorette party and while we were there we saw two bachelorette parties and they were having a ball so I think it should be a go depending on location.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the gym like usual, then I went to get a facial treatment. I got the new hydrafacial that is now very popular and it seemed like the coolest treatment I have ever gotten done I am interested to see the results, I’ll keep you posted. Saturday afternoon we relaxed before getting dressed and ready for our night. We were very excited to go see Beauty and the Beast live. Since the show was  downtown we decided to get dinner before at a place we used to love by our old apartment. Now that we have moved we don’t really go there much so this was the perfect opportunity. This place also has a great patio, since the weather was nice we decided to take that route and sit outside.  I absolutely love sitting outside when the weather is right so I am trying to take every chance I can get now before it gets crazy hot in the upcoming months.

After dinner we headed out to the show. This was our first time at the performing arts center and I was amazed with the space it was a beautiful building, with the entire front floor to ceiling glass. The show was AMAZING, if the tour is coming to your city and you have thought about going just do it, it is worth it. The costumes, dancing and singing was incredible. Evan and I both had our favorite parts, mine being the “Be our Guest” scene. We ended up with the songs stuck in our head, and singing them to each other for the rest of the weekend. I love plays and musicals and am glad to live in a place where many of the tours stop. I can’t wait to see another show in the future.

Sunday was like almost every other for us. We once again went to the gym, then the grocery store, did some chores around the house and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening before cooking dinner and lunches for the next couple of days. There also may have been a little wedding planning talk thrown in there as well. I can’t believe this is really happening, now we just need to pick a date!

 

Happy Monday Everyone

-E