Snickers, Shakes, and Other Snacks

Prep Day #2

Next week I will leave the comforts of my wonderful home (and kitchen) for USPS training. I’ll be living out of a hotel room, and then I’ll drive straight from there Friday afternoon to our annual Ladies’ Retreat at the lovely Palouse Divide Lodge in northern Idaho. I applied for a part-time clerk position (2 hours every Saturday) for a little extra spending money every month. Now, I’m going to spend SEVEN days away from my loving husband and two beautiful daughters. Fortunately for all of us, this training falls on the week we were taking off homeschool for Spring Break! It is great that God is in control!

So last week, I turned my lemons and limes into concentrates for two of my favorite Trim Healthy Mama sippers: Strawberry Margarita Good Girl Moonshine (recipe on Turning Lemons into Lemonade article) and the Singing Canary. I stored these in sealed plastic containers in my freezer. Blessings again, I made enough to have some to take with me next week!

Now I am preparing my dinners, desserts, and snacks. My first choice, a Snickers Protein Shake created by Dashing Dish. Oh, it is creamy, crunchy, and just what I need when I feel stressed. I use it as a meal replacement occasionally, since just with the scoop of whey protein powder I am getting 25g of protein! I know I will be taking my unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a carton of low-fat cottage cheese, my stock of extracts, and water and ice from our wonderful well. These make the base of wet ingredients for all my shakes and some of my smoothies. Today, I put all the dry ingredients together for 7 frappas, shakes, and smoothies in these cute little jelly jars.

Left to Right: Peach Smoothie, Coconut FSF, Big Boy Smoothie, Snickers Shake, Samoas Shake with topping, Reese's PB Shake, & Thin Mint Shake

I’ll include the recipes (or links to the recipes if they’re not mine) below. However, I need to check on my next project: roasted almonds and glazed walnuts!

Right now, I have two batches of nuts in the oven at 250^oF. I am dry roasting 1½ cups of almonds and glazing 1½ cup of walnuts. I didn’t have a recipe for the glaze, so I created my own. You’ll need:

Medium glass bowl

Foil lined baking tray

Ingredients

1½ cup Walnuts (or any other nut)

2 T butter, melted

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp Himalayan pink salt

2 T truvia (or sweetener equivalent of your choice)

I covered a baking tray with aluminum foil (to make clean-up easier.) In the glass mixing bowl, I melted 2 tablespoons of butter (microwave for 30 seconds). Then I added all of the ingredients except the nuts and stirred until combined. I tossed in the walnuts and stirred until they were completely coated. I then poured the coated nuts onto the prepared tray and baked them at 250^oF for 15-20 minutes, checking every 5-7 minutes. I already had my 1 ½ cups of almonds in the oven on a separate baking tray. You’ll know when the walnuts are done because they smell warm and nutty, and they haven’t started to brown. You definitely do NOT want burned nuts…ewww! Let them cool completely and store in a sealed container.

The dry roasted almonds can bake longer because they don’t have the sweetener and butter which can burn easier. I usually just leave them in the oven 20-30 minutes. If I leave them any longer, the whole house starts smelling like roasted almonds, and my family eats them before I can use them in a dish.

Here are all my nut snacks ready to be packed for my week away. I feel more prepared, less stressed about leaving for a week, and pleased by the crunch of a couple almonds fresh out of the oven. Happily, Erik and the girls are outside and not in here eating them all!

Shakes, Smoothies, & Drinks Recipes

Coconut FSF (FP)

1 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp coconut extract

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup vanilla almond milk (unsweetened)

½ tsp Glucomannan powder

4 tsp sweetener (stevia/erythritol/xylitol blend)

1/8 tsp sea salt

1 tray ice cubes

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

Stevia extract to taste

Blend all the ingredients (coconut oil through sea salt) together. Add ice cubes and pulse until broken into small pieces, then blend until smooth. Add protein powder and blend until creamy. Taste and add extracts or sweetener to taste (I used 3 drops French Vanilla liquid stevia.)

Trim Healthy Peachy Dream~ E (http://www.treasuresunseen.com/2013/07/trim-healthy-peachy-dream-e.html?m=1)

Big Boy Smoothie Trim Healthy Mama page 242.

Snickers Protein Shake (http://dashingdish.com/recipe/snickers-protein-shake/)

Low Carb Caramel “Samoas” Milkshake S (http://www.gwens-nest.com/family-favorite-recipes/low-carb-samoas-milkshake/)

THM Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Milkshake (http://www.gwens-nest.com/family-favorite-recipes/thm-peppermint-chocolate-chip-milkshake-recipe/)

THM Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Shake

I can’t find the author/creator. This was posted in the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook forum in early February. If you know the creator, let me know and I’ll give her credit!

Ingredients

o    3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

o    1 scoop unsweetened vanilla whey powder (or plain)

o    4 tsp. Truvia

o    3 sprinkles Nunaturals pure white stevia

o    1Tbsp coconut oil

o    Dash of sea salt

o    2Tbsp. natural, no sugar creamy peanut butter (we use Adam's)

o    1Tbsp Cocoa Powder

o    1/4 c. boiling water (this is to melt the coconut oil. I know, it sounds weird but it works.)

Mix everything together in your blender. At the end, I pulse in less than 1 oz. 85% dark chocolate for a little extra yum!