Happy Easter (to those who celebrate)! I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday with your loved ones. Since I was stuck at school and stuck inside, I got busy in the kitch! Let’s get to it because there’s plenty to show ‘n’ tell today.
Easter Workout:
Before heading out the door, I had a slice of millet bread with almond butter.
- 45 min. Elliptical
- 15 min. Stepmill
- 15 min. leg weights
The elliptical wasn’t getting my heart rate up without conscious effort, so I hopped on the Stepmill and it instantly skyrocketed. The stepmill requires a lot of effort, but not conscious effort. Ya know?
***
Millet French Toast!
After showering, I pulled out some spinach from the freezer to make a green smoothie. At the last second, I decided to make something special for Easter.
I soaked millet bread in 1 egg white, almond milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.
After a quick pan fry, I topped the finish product with strawberries, Greek yogurt, pecans, and honey.
I swear, Greek yogurt makes the best whipped cream!
On the side I had some veggie chips that I picked up on campus. My favorites were the green beans and carrots.
Does the green skin make this a kabocha chip?!
Shortly after, I had a Greek Yogurt Parfait with Kashi Puffs, strawberries, and bananas. Hello, protein.
Dontcha worry, it’s in there somewhere!
See? I told ya so.
Bakin’ + Cookin’
I could not bring myself to do any work, so I perused recipes online instead. I found a recipe for Skinny Figgy Bars (vegan) in my bookmarks folder, which was perfect to use up the figs I got last week.
I only had about 1/2 the amount dried figs it called for (~4 oz.) so that’s what I used. If I made these again, I would have made about twice as much crust/topping batter than what the recipe called for because each of my layers were spread out very thiiiiiiiiiin.
Layer 1.
Layers 2 + 3.
I loved that the filling was made with figs, crushed almonds, and dates. The crust is made out of oats and ground oats as well as some apple sauce. **I added 1/4 cup of flax seed to the batter to give it some oomph!
I actually would have preferred for this recipe to have more fat. They were good, but they were lacking the richness that a little bit of butter or oil would have provided.
I cut them into 9 bars instead of 16 and ate ~2 1/2 for an afternoon snack. I probably could have eaten another 2….which is exactly why I like to have more fat in my baked goods.
These will make a great pre/post-workout snack since that is when high fat food is not recommended.
Next, I decided to attack the artichoke I bought at Whole Foods awhile back.
After Google searching, I went with the simplest way to cook it up.
1. Cut off the top (~1/2 in.) and trim the stem. Then cut off 1/2 an inch off the outer leaves as well.
2. Rinse the artichoke under cold water and drain.
3. Place it upside down in a pot of boiling water for 30 min.
**I cut the stem off so it would be the exact height of the pot. That way the cover of the pot would hold the artichoke up (otherwise, it falls to the side).
That’s it! Easy peasy.
To eat this guy, I peeled away the outer leaves.
Then, I scraped this prickly layer into the trash (not edible)…
… to reveal the best part–the artichoke HEART!!
I accidentally ate the heart so darn fast and was sad I didn’t save it for last. It was just SO tender! I paired the outer leaves and the heart with a dip that I improvised.
Yogurt Avocado Dip
- 2/3 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1/4 large avocado (1/3 med. avocado)
- 1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
- 1-2 TBSP nutritional yeast (optional)
The dip was cool and creamy. The avocado and yogurt combined very well and tasted great.
***
Dessert: A HUGE granola bar, some chocolate, and toasted pecans.
I am so stuffed now!! That artichoke was humongous and so filling. Even so, I am still thinking about that delicious artichoke HEART!
P.S. Did ya hear!? We won last night! Duke is playing in the NCAA Championships tomorrow night!!! Oh yeeeeah!
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
The yogurt avocado dip- YUM!!!!! And your French toast looks amazing too!
French toast and chips! Love it!
Trying to conquer a whole avocado kind of intimidates me. Every time I see this on the Cheesecake Factory menu though, I am so tempted to order it. I’m sure yours was just as good and much healthier!
Glad you had a good weekend hun.
EDITED TO ADD*****
Opps, I meant Artichoke!
Love the dishes! The figgy bars sound great. Need to give that one a shot. I soooo love artichokes. It’s so great seeing someone young enjoying healthy food. Seriously. When I was your age I thought canned veggies were the way to go. LOL.
Totally saved that recipe for the fig bars. Sounds great – love figs!!
And, your breakfast looks seriously amazing. I love those veggie crisps too
I am so intimidated by artichokes– thanks for the directions! You actually make this look doable…I might have to give it a try!
Hope you had a great Easter!
Happy Easter, Allie! Those fig bars look awesome!
I love artichokes!! They are so great baked too
I wish I could pickup veggie chips on campus. Have you ever made your own? I’ve wanted to try but only have an oven, not a dehydrator
Katherine
Love the colorful post like usual!! hope you had a great weekend and easter!!
oh my goodness, passover is killing me– mus try those fig bars ASAP!!!!
Glad you had a good Easter!!
i love the easter colored fonts! HappyEaster!!
greek yogurt is the perfect condiment – whipped cream or sour cream or simply yogurt
your fig bars look amazing too! Fig Newtons are ALWAYS in my house- my parents love them. a perfect healthy cookie
Yum! I think I have those fig bars bookmarked…there is also a great fig bar recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance that I will have to look at soon.
I think we’re twins. I had a VERY similar day. Check out my post in a little… ; )
geeez that artichoke is huge! and such a process to cook lol. your breakfast looks so amazing- i want some french toast
Boooo Duke.. I don’t think I can ever root for them.. sorry
But I tried millet bread (along with cinnamon raisin ezekiel english muffins) today and I’m officially obsessed with both of them!! Trust me.. I will be coming back to your blog every day to get new ideas of what to do with them!!
Cooking that artichoke just seems so frustrating!! I have absolutely no experience cooking with them so I would have no idea how to cook it or what to make with it. Happy Easter to you too! Glad you got to enjoy the day with some baking and cooking!
By frustrating I actually meant to say intimidating…woops!
I seriously need to try millet bread, your recipes with it look SO good. I know what you mean about the elliptical and conscious effort, I really have to focus to get a good burn!
Wow, brave you with the artichoke! I’ve never seen a whole one before (only canned) – it’s crazy looking!
I agree re the fig bar thing – fat definetly makes stuff more satisfying. Full fat greek yogurt is SO filling I find!
Happy Easter
That dip sounds heavenly!
I love the carrot pieces in veggie chips as well, whenever my mom buys it I always pick all the good stuff out! I rediscovered how delish artichokes are yesterday too…they’re amazing roasted!! Hope you have a great week love
Glad you made the most out of your Easter Sunday. As usual, the eats and pics are really nice! I’ve just clicked on the link to the bars. Maybe I’ll give them a try.
wahoooooooooo! So excited for Duke. We’ll obv be watching tonight
great eats all day long- my favorite part is the parfait though (you know I”m a sucker for parfaits). Josh love loves artichokes ( I like them too but he love loves them). I need to cook up some fresh goodness. Have a great day
too funny you made artichokes! I was CRAVING them yesterday so at Tj’s I got a bag of frozen ones, cooked them up in a pan for a few minutes and added them to my salad they were SO GOOD!! I love that recipe for yogurt dip!
those skinny bars look So good!!! anything with figs in them sounds good to me!! Ihear ya on adding more fats though…somestimes just a little fat is all you need to make them extra satisfying!!
YAYAYAYA DUKEEEEEEE
Happy Easter!
Your french toast looks WAY better than mine, YUM!
You are officially the millet bread QUEEN. That looks like one fab breakfast!
See you later today, girlie:)
I love artichokes but I always found they were a lot of hard work to make AND eat. But that dip sounds fantastic. I might just have to suck it up and try artichokes again.
i love those veggie chips! and your colorful post! tat artichoke dip is such a nice, healthy alternative to butter! love it!
Congratulations on the win! I definitely would never have guessed that you guys would get this far! Do the ACC proud!
So – I thought you would appreciate this story. I made a trip out to Whole Foods last saturday for the FIRST TIME EVER! There was never one close to me growing up, Tech certainly doesnt have one, and I hadn’t made it out there since moving back up to NoVA. So I walked in there… and I seriously thought my brain was going to explode from awesomeness. I think I walked around for about an hour, and then literally had to make myself leave (without buying ANYTHING) before I just gave them my credit card and bought up the whole gosh darn store!! It was like heaven (except in my heaven there would be much less people shopping for easter dinner and crowding up the aisles). It was pretty much a religious experience. My brain is still exploding.
Then I went to Trader Joe’s and bought my weight in food. So all is right in the world. Just thought you’d appreciate my Whole Foods amazingness story!
That’s exactly how I cook/eat artichokes. I like to dip them in butter, only that’s not exactly the healthiest dip
I’m so nervous for the game tonight!
I have been CRAVING (and submitting to my cravings) French Toast like CRAZY lately. This morning was with Ezekiel, coconut, and flax and dark chocolate dreams! Ah, so good.
I always see those veggie chips in the store and am intrigued, but I never buy them – were they salty like a potato chip?
Mmm, I love boiled artichokes, my mom and I used to eat them together a lot – they’re one of our “special” foods
I had an artichoke for dinner the other day and it was so good I haven’t stopped thinking about it! I need to go back for more!
WOOT WOOT DUKE! OK now that I got that out.. wow awesome recipes Allie!
Obsessed with your yogurt parfait it is so pretty!
Hope you had a great Monday to jump start your week!
Molly
Those veggie chips are dangerous around me! I love’em. The fig bars look really good. Great way to use the figs up. I haven’t had a steamed artichoke since I was a kid. Yours made me miss them….
the figgy bars look amazing! i haven’t baked in soo long so i think i will try these this weekend!
Mmmm I love artichokes!! I grew up eating my grandparents’ artichokes that are made the Italian way. So stinking good. Basically you stuff the leaves with a mixture of bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, seasoning, drizzle of olive oil, and simmer in a pot of water (halfway up to the artichokes) for about 45 minutes. I think that’s right.
I’ve only made them once and they were good, but not nearly as amazing as my grandpa’s. Never had them dipped in anything! The green beans are my fave in the veggie chip mix too! 
Your bars look delish-I’m sure coconut oil would make them extra yummy like you said!
Your food looks delicious and I absolutely love all of the plates that you eat off of
These fig bars look SO GOOD! Will you just come cook for me?
Ha ha I’m actually kind of afraid to have delicious things like figs and dates in the house, just because I want to eat them all in one sitting. But this recipe is definitely bookmarked; thanks for pointing it out!
Oh I totally missed this when Taylor was in town! Thanks for sharing it with Friday Firsts! I have actually never cooked an artichoke either and it is on my “to do” list of ideas for future firsts!! I love artichokes, my parents cook them deliciously so I never had to! hehe My dad does these yummy stuffed artichokes where he parboils them and gets rid of the “choke” and then he makes this batter of sorts w/ beaten egg, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese. He sprinkles it all down in the artichoke and it gets all in b/w the leaves and bakes it. Then as you pull off ea. leaf it’s as if the batter is on ea. one! Sooo good! I’m so in the mood right now!
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