Optimism Can Take You Anywhere

Hi friends. I hope you've all had a terrific Thursday. School has been busier than ever this past week. Group presentations, online quizzes, meetings, and problem sets have completely consumed my weekdays. My calendar looks like a bad attempt at an artistic project, there are so many highlighted items on it. This quote has really helped get me through the week:

"Optimism can take you anywhere."
Three cheers for optimism!
---

A few readers asked me about how I make my Protein Powder Pancakes, so here is the quick & easy recipe:

Vanilla Protein Powder Pancake with Smucker's Sugar Free Syrup and fresh fruit

Ingredients
1 scoop of Protein Powder Mix
2 Egg Whites
1 Tablespoon of Milk
Cinnamon
Dash of Baking Soda

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Whip the batter until the protein powder is dissolved. Pour the mixture into a frying pan and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes on both sides. Drizzle on your favorite syrup, add fresh fruit, and enjoy!

Ben & Jerry's White Chocolate Iced Latte

This White Chocolate Macadamia Nut CLIFBAR is the perfect energy booster and study snack. It packs in an amazing 9g of Protein and is made with all natural and organic ingredients. Besides the Carrot Cake Clifbar, WCMN is by far one of my favorite flavors.

A simple & delicious Fall dessert:
Stonyfield Farm Organic Greek Yogurt mixed with pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, and a dash of sugar.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Salad with Kraft Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette, tomatoes, pickles

Have a great weekend. <3 HBB

**Thank you so much to Heather for the Giveaway treats! I'll be having my first GIVEAWAY on my 50th post. Get excited!

10 Minutes To a Healthier You

Hello friends. Can you believe it's almost Friday? Time sure does fly when you're having fun (or busy with schoolwork). This week I've been dedicated to giving myself an extra ten minutes to make healthier meals. With a busy college schedule, we can always get thrown off of our nutritious eating plan. If you find there just isn't enough time to exercise, take 10 extra minutes out of your day to make a healthier meal. Hope this tip works for you too!

Vanilla Protein Powder Pancake with Smucker's Sugar Free Syrup and fresh strawberries

Stonyfield Farm Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt helps me study. :) Honey is my new favorite flavor!

Every weekday at school, a group known as the Hare Krishnas, serve an amazing lunch in the courtyard. The Krishna lunch is mainly known for its almond salad dressing-- which is the best thing you will EVER taste. Click this link for the recipe.

Tuesday's Krishna lunch: cabbage, potatoes, and broccoli in tomato sauce, brown rice & sesame seeds, salad with almond dressing, and Mounds Bar Halava for dessert.

At the grocery store the other day, this Tasty Bite Punjab Eggplant meal popped out at me. Being the food blogger that I am, I decided to give it a whirl.

The back of the box states that, "Punjab Eggplant is made using all natural, fresh ingredients hand-picked on our farm." It is also vegetarian, vegan, kosher, gluten free, contains no MSG or preservatives. Another bonus is that it only takes 90 seconds to heat up.

To spice up this meal even more, I mixed in some chickpeas, tomatoes, and melted cheese. This Tasty Bite meal was amazing and packed with so many delicious flavors! My only warning: only try this meal if you're a fan of spicy foods. This eggplant dip definitely delivered the heat! If you do like spicy ethnic foods, then go buy this right now. :)

Quaker Rice Cake with Peanut Butter & Co.'s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl and Smucker's Strawberry Jelly

Time to read a few chapters for class. Saturday I'll be going to our first football game of the semester. I can't wait to see our Tebow in action! Go Gators!

<3 HBB

**Vitamuffins sent me a 5% off coupon code: tweet09

I Should Be In The Kitchen

Today has been a pretty uneventful day.

Absolutely no exercise or anything fun has occurred.
I did get a pretty nice nap in though.

Protein powder pancake w/ blueberries, cinnamon, & syrup

Skim milk & granny smith

"I should be in the kitchen"

My boyfriend gave me this shirt as a gag gift kinda thing.
What a sense of humor.. ;)

Coconut cream pie Larabar

My mom and I had a picnic lunch alongside the beautiful water in St. Petersburg. We had the health store salad bar to-go.

R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence
Carbonated Spring Water, Blueberry Flavor
My Review: Unfortunately, it tasted like perfume. I would not recommend this drink!

Salad w/pumpkin seeds, mushrooms, tomatoes, tofu, tabbouleh,
barley, & Annie's Goddess Dressing

I definitely couldn't eat this healthy jumble again. I like trying new things, but I felt like this was too "healthy"(if that makes sense). I'm not a fan of tofu because it's just too squishy. It's kind of like marshmallows..the texture terrifies me!

Dr. Brown's Diet Cream Soda, chili, carrots, & strawberries

Rice cake w/ natural pb & grape jelly

Watermelon and cottage cheese w/ cinnamon & raw sugar

I'm driving up to Gainesville tomorrow for a few days. Hopefully this time I remember to bring my laptop :) <3 HBB

***Anna is having her 100th post giveaway
& here is a Bday giveaway!

Endless Adventures

This week has been pretty adventurous and it's only Thursday! You have to love sweet summertime. :)

Starbucks?

Nope.. a bowl full of hearty turkey chili.

Mister Rooster is drinking some delicious Diet Root Beer and nibbling on a Georgia peach.

Salad w/ red bell pepper, raisins,
Parmesan cheese, turkey burger, sauerkraut

My mom and I went for a 22 mile bike ride on Tuesday. We found this pretty ocean view.

When we got back we were craving: Crisper's summer salad + citrus herb dressing. The candied pecans in this salad are my favorite.

C ^3
(Cottage cheese with cinnamon)

Yesterday I went on a 4 hour canoe ride on the Weeki Wachee River.

My dad, brother, and I switched off every hour for the kayak.

Kayaking is the BEST arm workout.

Lunch on the river: un-pictured Spicy Italian Subways & banana

The whole river is basically a spring-- crystal clear and 72 degrees. Brrr!

This morning's breakfast consisted of a protein powder pancake:
2 scoops soy protein powder, 2 egg whites, cinnamon,
Smucker's syrup, iced coffee, & a granny smith

That's all for today friends! <3 HBB