Potato skins and mozzarella sticks are two secret loves of mine. I rarely eat them because they don’t fill me up and they are incredibly caloric, but oh they taste so good!

Why didn’t I ever think to make them at home?! I literally never even considered it until I saw How Sweet’s Savory Sweet Potato Skins. Since seeing that post I have made the original recipe, made regular potato skins, and made mini potato skins. PhillyBoy is in heaven, and I am too. By using sweet potatoes these keep me fuller longer, and just a little bit of cheese and bacon goes a long way. We ate them as the main meal with a side salad, as a side with a main salad, and as snacks. They are delicious straight out of the oven, but equally tasty warmed in the microwave.

Mine were not nearly as pretty as How Sweet’s, but they were crunchy, cheesy, sweet and salty.

…I might just have another sweet potato in the oven right now.

Have you come across any good recipes lately? Please share in the comments!

Some people eat their banana bread plain.

Some people eat it toasted with a bit of butter.

Me? I top it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and a few chopped walnuts and eat it with a spoon.

Whichever way you enjoy it, banana bread brings back fabulous memories for most of us I’m sure.

In my case the memories are of opening a banana bread mix and dumping it in a big glass bowl, getting mix all over the counter. I was about 15 and wanted to bake something special for my mom. I would add the few extra ingredients carefully and pour the batter into the pan as gently as possible. I would then sit at the kitchen table willing myself to not open the oven door every few minutes to see if I mixed everything the right way. I would dutifully do my homework, but in my mind all I was thinking about was the banana bread. The minute it was done I would pull it out and slice it up, still warm, even though the box said to let it cool in the pan first. I would rush up to my mom’s room to give her a piece, and she would smile the biggest smile ever.

I love when cooking or baking brings back a memory previously forgotten.

Do you have banana bread memories? Please share.

I am obsessed with snack packs, which are essentially the cousin of out of town (OOT) bags for weddings (which I LOVED putting together- side note: full wedding recaps are coming in late July!!)

Whether traveling on a plane or by car, I always have a bag of snacks with me.

After a year of planning this trip to Jordan and putting together such a big group, I knew I wanted to do something for everyone going on the trip. My original idea was to have bags of snacks waiting in everyone’s rooms in Amman, but that would have taken up too much space in my suitcase and taken up too much time upon arrival. I still wanted to do something though, and when I started thinking about what I would bring for the 12+ hour plane ride I knew exactly what to do…

Travel Snack Packs for the group!

Of course I am nuts and decided this the week before the trip, when guest posts needed to be organized, freelance writing jobs completed, regular office work to be done, a house to clean, a suitcase to pack, and, well, the 1,000 other things that need to be done before a long vacation. Luckily I have been making snack packs for so many years for myself and my husband that it only took me 3 hours from start to finish to put these together.

A step by step:

1. Make a list of the people going and be sure there are no allergies.

2. Purchase all the items you want to include.

Here was my list per person:
-2 salty but healthy snacks
-1 fun snack
-2 options for a small sweet treat
-hard candies
-1 pack gum
-1 breakfast bar
-1 snack bar
-1 treat bag
-a few snack size ziploc bags

Tip: Buy big packages of treats as well as ziploc bags and then portion them out yourself. It makes the cost decrease significantly, and your snack options increase tremendously.

I bought dry roasted peanuts, roasted unsalted almonds, caramel hard candies, Trident Advantage gum, chocolate trail mix, Dove Promises (milk chocolate), Ghirardelli mint chocolates, Kashi breakfast bars in strawberry and blackberry, and Clif Z-bars.

Here’s what each person got:

3. Portion out the snacks one by one and line up. After portioning out my snacks I had all the baggies lined up, then the bars and gum, and the awkward shaped treat baggies on the side. That way when stuffing I could grab the 3 baggies at once, add the awkward shaped baggie, and stuff. Then I would grab the two bars + gum and add those.

4. Set all your treat bags up and stuff them one by one. See #3 above for easy stuffing instructions.

5. Staple or tape your treat bags shut. Label them. If you have different colors like I did, try and give each person in a couple a different color. So if I had a pink one, PB would have the teal one, and so on.

6. Hand them out to your group and enjoy!!!

I LOVED putting these together, and I hope my friends & family enjoy them! With such a long flight it is nice to have some packed snacks.

Note: I wrote this before the trip but decided not to post it until everyone received them- I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. I am out of the country from June 25- July 7 and will be featuring guest posts as well as other posts while I am away. Enjoy!

Related posts:

• Tips for Healthy Traveling
• Healthy Living While Traveling
• How to Travel to Another City and Back in One Day

My night went like this…
work
tried out a new gym (Philadelphia Sports Club!)
market
shower
light dinner
SYTYCD/work
…late night snack….

If you said you never eat sweets you must be lying. Or you’re not my friend.

Everyone likes a sweet treat now and again, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be heavy or high in calories. I found the perfect solution to an ice cream cone craving…

See here:

Oh, and please vote for my mushroom lentil burger recipe on Recipe Rivalry! The first 500 voters will receive a free bag of dried peas or lentils!

Related posts:
Serving of Cereal
Ridding Yourself of Unnecessary Sugar Forever
Apples & Bananas

Sweet Treats for every day.

Oikos Caramel yogurt and Chocolate yogurt have finally arrived. Greek yogurt is really delicious, and when sweetened a bit, it can satisfy any sweet tooth. You have all seen my favorite yogurt combination by now. If you haven’t, it is here: The Trifecta: Oikos, Pom, & Kashi. I also call this sweet treat a yogurt bomb, which this season consists of plain Greek yogurt, slivered almonds, strawberries and a few chocolate chips.

I may no longer have to make my own sweet yogurt snacks! Oikos came out with two new flavors of Greek yogurt- Caramel flavor and Chocolate flavor. I received a few samples today from Stonyfield Farms (thank you!) and had to share the packaging as it was not only fitting to the delicious flavors, but really fun! (Note: This video is dork-worthy).

The flavors are at the bottom which I like so I can control how sweet it is. I have only tried the caramel so far and I really like it. I mixed in about 3/4 of the caramel and it was a perfect, decadent, guiltless treat!

Have you tried the new Oikos flavors yet? What do you think?

P.S. The video starts with a close-up of my new t-shirt! PB and I are running the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run in Washington D.C. in a few weeks with some friends (I might be running with Ashley) and I am wearing it to run! I do not really feel prepared as I have been teaching more boot camp classes than running, but it will be fun anyway! I am trying to convince PB to let me change plans so I can attend the meet up Anne P is planning.

P.P.S. On the sidebar to the right you can click on links to follow me on Twitter, become a fan of RhodeyGirl Tests on Facebook, read the latest posts, or sign up for a subscription via email! All support is greatly appreciated!

PhillyBoy and I have been running machines since we started training for the Philadelphia Half Marathon (which is November 22). What does that mean? We need more food! I find myself looking for an extra little pick-me-up in the afternoon, and to me, nothing says afternoon snack better than a muffin!

Therefore I set out to make a healthy muffin: apple muffins, in fact! After apple picking with PB, Heather, & Mark, we had more than enough apples in the house! These muffins are not sweet, but lend the perfect texture and hint of sweetness to bring out the natural flavor of the apples. I based this recipe off of a muffin recipe I made last year.

I have eaten these alone or in a big bowl of yogurt with added berries. Both ways, these are delicious! And they freeze well too!

Apple Walnut Raisin Muffins

Ingredients:
The dry:
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 tbs cinnamon

The wet:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup skim milk
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

The mix-ins:
1/4 cup halved walnuts
2 apples, washed, peeled, and diced
1/4 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Mix the wet in one bowl. Mix the dry in another.
3. Add the wet to the dry, but don’t overmix.
4. Stir in the walnuts, raisins and apples.
5. Fill each tin about 2/3 the way full and bake for about 12-14 minutes until the top is nice an golden brown.