Pretzels

Fun Fact: I used to call pretzels PRENzels. I think I pronounced it like that until sometime in elementary school! My best friend still makes fun of me for it...I was special.

We always had pretzels in the house growing up. My mom was and still is a die hard rold gold fan. I was never much a fan, I was more of a potato chip girl growing up. Ruffles were the best! 

Then I met Alex. He LOVES pretzels. He buys snyders pretzels, and I must say in my opinion snyders does make the best pretzel! I think they just have a better flavor and saltiness to them then rold gold. They also have so many fun flavors and different shapes/sizes and even ones with peanut butter and chocolate! That sold me over right there! 

Alright why do I keep going on and on about pretzels.....because it's National Pretzel Day :) Buzzfeed put out this fun list of things to eat today.

What I am talking about today though is homemade soft pretzels. I made these for Alex's birthday one year because he isn't much of a sweets fan but loves his salt.  He now requests these ALL the time. I should of never made them ;). This recipe is kind of time consuming and not as simple as some but the pretzels are crunchy, salty, chewy and DELICIOUS.  There are a ton of recipes out there that are little easier than this, just google homemade soft pretzels. If you want to give this one a whirl though it's totally worth it. Enjoy!

Soft Pretzels  

Moderation

I made this salad a couple weeks ago. It included of spinach, arugula, prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and burata cheese. It was AMAZING and the glass of wine complimented it perfectly. Simple and delicious. 

I've always been about moderation my whole life. Even as a kid my dad was always amazed that I stopped when I wasn't hungry anymore or I got a bowl to portion out things. 

Now I'm not perfect, I've strayed away from that moderate lifestyle and I've regretted it. It's extremely hard to do, and it keeps getting harder and harder with all the ridiculous food products rot there now. The best advice I can give you is if you don't know what's in it, DONT eat it. EAT REAL WHOLE FOODS. I love Huffpost articles and I stumbled upon this today. It's a great read and happy to say I follow a lot of the habits.

14 habits of people with a healthy relationship to food

Happy Monday!

Peanut butter jelly thumbprints

Peanut buter and jelly, it really is the perfect combo. When I found this cookie recipe I was PRETTY excited. I got a lot of good pictures of them...

These are RIDICULOUSLY easy to make. Now go make them and impress all your friends and family :) 

Peanutbutter and Jelly thumbprint cookies

Happy Monday

Because cookies are delicious...happy

Monday! 

Banana " Icecream"

I LOVE bananas. They are so versatile. In breads they are moist and delicious, with peanut butter they are a filling snack, and when you freeze them it's a whole other ball game! Once frozen and blended they take on this wonderful creamy texture, both in smoothies and in this "icecream". All you need to do is peel a banana, cut it up and freeze it and blend it in a food processor and BOOM an amazing healthy icecream! You can take it to the next level by adding peanut butter or chocolate cocoa to it! I've done both (peanut butter is my fav obviously). I also have topped it with granola or nuts for a sundae like creation.  You REALLY need a food processor for this unless you have a really good blender or this fun gadget. 

Banana icecream

Enjoy this yummy treat! 

Peanutbutter oat balls

I've been making these little energy balls for a couple years now. They are SO GOOD and super easy to make. They are a great on the go snack and the ingredients are really simple. I have played around with the recipe and switched some of the ingredients. Instead of peanutbutter I've used almond butter or sun butter. Instead of maple syrup I have used honey. I also always use chocolate graham crackers instead of plain. I would recommend using the chocolate instead of the plain :). I've actually even made them with homemade chocolate graham crackers! 

Have them for breakfast or a mid afternoon snack, either way it a healthier treat than a cookie (but it tasted like one!)

Peanut-butter Oat Balls

Have a great Monday :) 

Blueberry corn muffins

Oh spring you are so close yet so far away....I went and bought myself a lovely colorful scarf full of spring colors and ever since then I can't stop thinking about spring recipes, weather, and clothes! This defiantly has been a brutal winter. I have been living in Connecticut the past four years and we have had it pretty ROUGH ever since I moved here from Ohio, so I guess this year hasn't been that bad comparable to the other years! Snow storms, tornados, hurricanes OH MY. We have also had less storms then in Ohio this year so I'll be thankful for that~

I used to LOVE buying those pre-made muffin packets you just add water to....yea not so much anymore. Two of the packets I would buy most frequently were the blueberry muffins or the corn muffins.  Now I never saw these two flavors put together until a year or so ago and the sweetness of the blueberries really livens up a bland corn muffin! I follow the recipe pretty much as is. I use almond milk for buttermilk (you just add a tablespoon of white vinegar to make it buttermilk!) I also just use frozen blueberries instead of the mix. You might need to bake it a little longer because of frozen berries :) Enjoy!

Blueberry corn muffins

I also NEED to make this pasta soon. It sounds DELICIOUS