Sally's Baking Addiction Cookbook Giveaway!

Hello everyone...

Happy Sunday! I'm so, so sorry for the delayed post. I've been pretty busy with everything lately.

I'm super excited to share something with you today! Can you guess what it is? A GIVEAWAY!

Super sweet Sally from Sally's Baking Addiction is hosting a giveaway here on Fit 2 Be for her cookbook! Thank you so much, Sally - and also Katie from Quarry Spoon :) Are you ready to enter?

Giveaway Entry Rules:

1. You must comment below with your name and email address

2. You must become a follower of this blog
3. Giveaway is only open only to the US, Canada, and UK

Open through: May 18th - June 10th

Now that you've completed these two tasks, please go head on over to Sally's blog! Please share this around the web! We appreciate all your support for Fit 2 Be :) Have a wonderful Sunday...

Olivia

As seen on Hypersweep.com!

Banana Walnut Oatmeal

This morning I had a delectable breakfast of oatmeal. Oatmeal is one of my very favorite breakfasts. You can make it so many different ways - pumpkin, peanut butter, chocolate, banana, berry, coconut, pineapple, etc...

This morning I made myself a bowl of banana walnut oatmeal. It was soooo good! I love nuts in oatmeal; they just make it perfect. 

     Banana Walnut Oatmeal

1 cup of oatmeal (150 cal.)
• 1 medium banana (90 cal.)
• 1 tbsp. walnuts (48 cal.)
• 1 tbsp. raisins (33 cal.)
• 1 tsp. (or more) cinnamon (0 cal.)
• 1 tsp. brown sugar (15 cal.)
• 1/4 cup of almond milk (15 cal.)

      Total Calorie Count: 301 calories

If you are trying to consume fewer calories, you could always use half a banana instead of a whole one.

I cooked 1/2 cup of oatmeal in 1 cup of water. I covered my oatmeal with the sliced banana, sprinkled my cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, and sugar on top, and then poured the almond milk over it all. It was absolutely scrumptious!

Well, thanks for reading. I hope this recipe gave you some inspiration to create your own amazing bowl of oatmeal. If you liked this recipe, please let me know and comment. Also, I would love to hear about any of your favorite types of oatmeal.

Have a marvelous day, filled with the joy and peace of our Lord. May our gracious God, bless you exceedingly and abundantly in your fitness journey. Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord  Jesus Christ! 

LOVE,

MARIAH

Workout and Recipe Day!

Hello!

How has your week been so far? I've been working for a while on this post- trying to decide what workout and recipe I should use. Finally, I found everything that I was looking for.

I know that many times we are trying to find the perfect ab workout to do. I know that sometimes I go to workout, but I don't know which one I should do. So, then while I'm supposed to be having a great workout, I'm really sitting at the computer for an hour searching for the right one. Does that ever happen to you?

I have yet to follow one of Cassey Ho's workout calendars. Have you ever tried one? I've heard that they are so challenging, but also that they make it so easy to workout because it's already planned out.
You can find some of them here: Blogilates Workout Calendars.

Here's the workout:

~Workout~

I'm sure some of you are familiar with Amanda Russel, but maybe you've never done any of her workouts or read her website/blog.

Try to do this workout (or change it with some of her others) a few times throughout the week with cardio, and pretty soon you'll start seeing definition! :) Let me know in the comments below if you enjoy this workout routine!

~Recipe~

I first must tell you- I absolutely love this recipe for hummus! It is so amazing and full of delicious flavors. The pictures are actually from The Whole Fruit. Go head over to see Elena's blog!

White Bean Basil Hummus

1 can cannellini beans (or 2 cups)

1 handful fresh basil (or 1 1/2 tsp. dried)

2 large cloves garlic

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. lemon juice (or one lemon)

1 large tablespoon (like for eating) tahini

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. 

Please comment below with your thoughts on the exercise, recipe, or just to say "hello." Have a wonderful day, and may the Lord bless you continually :)

Love,

Olivia

Quest Protein Review

Hello!

I'm really excited to share yet another Quest review with you! I've tasted a few protein bars before, not that many, but so far my favorite has probably been the Quest bars. :) I love that Quest makes their products taste so good that you actually crave them. I've heard or read many times that people just can't find a delicious tasting snack, but you won't have to feel like that once you try Quest!

To start, I would like to once again thank Quest for so generously sending us these products to review. :) It has been a super enjoyable experience for the Nutrisimo crew to taste each of the amazing protein bars! Eager to know how they taste? Great, keep reading! 

Like this? Go see the original review: Brownie Bites

I was really looking forward to trying the Strawberry Cheesecake Quest bar, and I was not disappointed. Yes, the Quest bars have been raved about, and you may wonder if they are really as good as people say. My answer is 'yes.' They are absolutely fantastic! You'd never think that a protein bar could really have the flavors that these do - it is incredible. Not just are the flavors amazing, but the ingredients are good for you! Take a look at the Strawberry Cheesecake nutrition facts below:

 The Strawberry Cheesecake Quest bar was so unique from the other bars. It had a really fruity flavor on behalf of the strawberry, but not so much of cheesecake. If I could improve this bar, I would strengthen the cheesecake flavor and make the texture of the bar a little creamier. The taste was definitely similar to the White Chocolate Raspberry Quest bar, but I personally preferred  the Strawberry Cheesecake bar to the other. I did microwave this bar for about 17 seconds, which really enhanced the flavors, but I'm sure it would be really tasty without microwaving it too! :) This bar would be perfect used in a cookie recipe to give it a creamy texture and berry flavor. I was very pleased that this bar didn't contain any sucralose, since some of their other bars do, so that was an extra bonus! Overall, I highly enjoyed this bar and would say it's definitely a keeper!! 

P.S. Keep reading, because Michaela is going to share with you her thoughts of the Quest bars...

Love,

Olivia

Courtesy of: http://www.browniebites.net/opinions-quest-bar-protein-bars/#comments

Before I start- it's Michaela! The Quest bar that I'm going to tell you about is the Vanilla Almond Crunch. Ready for my insight on another of Quest's products? Keep reading!

Okay, I feel like I keep on saying this, but I was really anticipating trying this bar. It just looked good from the wrapper. Anyway, I didn't use it in a recipe, because I just wanted to get the un-tampered flavor of the bar. Again, I microwaved it for around 17 seconds to bring out the flavor. And it was  delicious! 

Courtesy of: Living, Learning, Eating

What I love about Quest bars is that when you open them up, instantly an amazing flavor wafts from the package. It was very unique from the other bars because it didn't have that fruit flavor; however, it had a great vanilla taste in it, and even some crunchy almond bites were spread throughout the bar - very unique! I loved how it was creamy and crunchy all at once- definitely a winner. :)

I'm completely serious when I say this, but this Quest bar didn't even taste like a protein bar! It tasted like I was eating dessert. :) This would make a delicious treat to have once in a while before or after your workout. 

Love, love this pic. Thank you, A Spoonful of Sunshine!!

There are also some recipes that use this bar on Quest Nutrition's YouTube channel that look really good, so I'd suggest looking there if you want to make it in a recipe. Following are two of the videos I found that use this bar. 

Love,
Michaela