Cinnamon Cereal Snack Bars

I've been racking my brain to find something that I can

• snack on while studying
• have for breakfast without waking everyone up
• can travel well if needed

This bars seem to work really well for all of those things and they taste good. They store well and would be more self stable if I had used coconut oil instead of butter, but with the amount of almond flour I am more comfortable storing these in the refrigerator than in the cupboard for extended periods of time.

If you are following Trim Healthy Mama like I do then these bars are considered an S meal/snack.

Cinnamon Cereal Snack Bars

Printable Recipe

3/4 cup Almond flour/meal
1/2 cup Coconut flour
2 TBS Oat Fiber
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
4 TBS Softened Butter/ Coconut oil
1/3 cup THM Sweet Blend or Pyure Organic Stevia
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup Cinnamon Jelly or Slim Belly Jelly (page 411)

 

In a large bowl, mix almond flour, coconut flour, oat fiber and cinnamon until well combined.

 In another bowl, cream together the butter or coconut oil, sweetener, eggs, vanilla and salt. 

Add the dry ingredients into the wet until well combined.  

Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes for easier preparation.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. 

 

Place 1/2 the dough onto 1 piece of parchment and top the dough with the other piece of parchment. 

Roll out until a rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick. 

Cut into small rectangles about the size of a cereal bar. Place 1 TBS jelly or a few berries onto the middle of half of the rectangles. 

Gently cover the jelly topped rectangles with a piece of dough without the jelly.

Seal the edges with a fork or your finger. 

Place the parchment onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

This should make 6 bars.

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Yummy in My Tummy Turmeric Tea

     I have always had an issue with inflammation. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 12.  When my dad passed in 2012 my oldest brother was staying with us through the funeral services. Steve likes to cook and he gets creative to the point of “that’s scary” quite often. So when he started looking through the spice cabinet while cooking I got a little scared. Thankfully that meal was only for him as it was a curry and no one else cares for them.

     While he was looking through the spices he started talking to me about the health benefits of each one. When he found the turmeric he told me that this was one that I needed to work more into my diet. Of course I asked why, and he shared with me that it helps with inflammation and cold relief as well as a bunch of other benefits.

     I had forgotten about that conversation until I was floating around on pinterest as so many of us do and there was a glass of “golden milk” on my screen. I clicked on it to see what it was and was surprised to see that it contains turmeric. Then when I started following TrimHealthy Mama they came out with the Singing Canary…. I tried it to curb a craving for orange juice.  So then I went searching for the specific benefits of turmeric and wow did I find a lot. I also found a bunch of recipes for Turmeric Tea …

     I made a couple of them and wasn’t impressed until I started changing ingredients around… This is my version of Turmeric Tea.

Turmeric Tea

Printable Recipe

    8 ounces (1 cup) almond or coconut milk

    1/2 teaspoon turmeric

    1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
     1/8 tsp ground black pepper

    1/2 – 1 teaspoon sweetener

    1 teaspoon MCT oil, coconut oil or butter 

Instructions:

Gently warm the almond milk on the stove.

In a mug, combine the remaining ingredients.

Drizzle a teaspoon of the warmed milk into the mug and mix until the liquid is smooth. 
Then incorporate the rest of the warmed milk.

** for my fellow Trim Healthy Mama’s this is an S drink.

The Ooey Gooey Fudgy Brownie Quest

     One thing that is mandatory in our house are brownies. They are Rick's favorite and one of the things that will make me go off plan in a heart beat.
     Now some of the recipes have come out okay like these ..

 
    But they weren't quite what I was looking for, they are edible... and would be amazing in a brownie sundae drizzled with some hot fudge or caramel sauce (which is probably how they are going to be eaten) Tummy Tucking Ice Cream (Trim Healthy Mama page 368) here we come....

     I did use these while on my fuel cycle (the recipe is available on that group page)  but I think I cooked them too long, and they contain no fat so they are a little dry and chewy. These are the Fuel Pull Brownies. I haven't tried the Deep S ones just yet.

      We did make the Secret Agent Brownie Cake (on page382) before I knew that it needed to sit overnight in fridge, so it was a little weird. I do need to revisit that recipe now that I have been on plan for a few months and have seen some of the tweaks.

Trim Mint Crispy Cereal {Low Carb, Sugar Free}

Raise your hand if Thin Mint cookies are your favorite…

They are mine too!! With cookie season right around the corner this cereal makes indulging in the flavor of our favorite cookie possible all year long FOR BREAKFAST!!

I've been missing cold crunchy cereal for breakfast, and let's face it some of the options just aren't nearly as fun as crispy minty chocolate cereal with some nice cold almond milk. I was looking to find a cereal that could be enjoyed in my Trim Healthy Mama journey as a fuel pull meal, and couldn't find one. Most of them contain nut or seed flours which aren't allowed during a fuel cycle, See Chapter 28 for more details about that. This is an S though because of the amount of coconut oil.
So I played with ingredients and here we go!!!

Trim Mint Cereal

Printable Recipe

2 Scoops of Whey Protein Isolate
¼ cup Psyllium Husk Powder or Oat Fiber
¼ cup Cocoa Powder
¼ cup Coconut Oil
4 TBS Sweetener, I used Pyure, Organic Stevia Sweetener
¼ tsp Baking soda
4 TBS Water
1 tsp Pure Peppermint Extract

 

1. Place dry ingredients in a larger mixing bowl.
2. Cut Coconut oil into dry ingredients with a fork until crumbly, Add extract, then water 1 TBS at a time incorporating until dough sticks together.
3. Roll dough to 1/8^th inch thickness and cut into pieces with a pastry cutter or pizza wheel.
4. Bake at 400(F) for 8 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and break pieces apart allow to cool on baking sheet.

 
Store in an airtight container.
Makes 4 servings
For trim Healthy Mama's this is an S 

 

My Favorite Printable Meal Planner

     This is my favorite meal planner. it allows me to set goals, make notes and label my meals by type  ( for my Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle). I first saw this style of planner at this blog, although they don't allow you to print a blank one for personal use which is what prompted me to make my own add a note area and offer it as a free printable

     If you aren't following that lifestyle, this works wonderfully for diabetes management in that you can note the carb counts in the little boxes or b/s readings.

      Planning and logging your food is a major component in successful weight loss and diabetes management. I can say from experience that having a food and b/s log has helped me see what foods trigger b/s spikes and when I may not have eaten enough.

     Using forms like this to plan also help with grocery shopping and compiling the list of ingredients needed. Noting things like the recipe page number helps my husband to locate recipes if he is the one preparing the meal.

Chocolate to the Rescue

     Part of what makes me happy eating my new healthier lifestyle is "Skinny Chocolate" it was one of the things that drew me to Trim Healthy Mama to begin with. (We are serious Chocoholics in this house.)

     So when  planning for my very first fuel cycle one of the administrators mentioned making chocolate fudge for Deep S days. She posted this link to a wonderful recipe over on Gwen's Nest that follows the Deep S guidelines.

     I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate so I normally tweak my everyday chocolates with peanut butter, heavy cream or cream cheese...

 Hello!! Those aren't weight loss friendly...

     Protein powder makes Chocolate chewy, not my favorite... but it works to help make things a more milk chocolate taste. These don't even have that ...

     So I was looking at the variations that were listed and was like but I want chocolate and cherries... or maybe some with coffee as that makes the chocolates taste ohhh so yummy.

     And Chocolate Cherry Candies were born...

Chocolate Cherry Candies

Printable Recipe

1 cup coconut oil, I used refined
1/2 cup softened butter
1 tsp cherry extract
4 TBS ground Sweetener, (I use Pyure Organic Stevia All-Purpose Sweetener )
2 TBS Cocoa Powder, I used Hershey's Dark

Melt the oils, whisk the sweetener into the oils, add the extract.
(I poured this mixture into candy mold cervices about 1/2 way and froze them. Then added the cocoa powder to the remaining oil mixture while that layer was hardening in the freezer.)

When those were solid I whisked the oil mixture with cocoa again and poured into the remaining space of the molds, popped them in the freezer and let them harden all the way.

Unmold and store in the fridge or freezer.

This post contains affiliate links, while it is no extra cost to you, if you happen to make a purchase than we make a small profit. This helps keep the content of the blog free

Planning a Fuel Cycle – Meal Plan

      With the New Year fast approaching I decided that I am going to do a Fuel Cycle.

      Fuel Cycles are part of the Time Healthy Mama lifestyle, they are not recommended for people just starting the plan and are used to remove what is referred to in the book as "donkey weight" (you know the weight that is just stubborn as a mule). 

      Being that I am older and my lifestyle is more sedentary than I'd like my weight loss has stalled a bit (yeah ok, I have had a few too many cross over meals). 

     Out with the old and in with the new… I'm also doing a "No Cheat Challenge" sponsored by one of the administrators of the Facebook groups (she has a really cool blog).

       One of the most important parts of a Fuel cycle is to plan your meals and snacks. This regiment is really strict about the foods that you can and cannot have and follows the guidelines in Chapter 28 of the Trim Healthy Mama Book.

     I made a batch of Chocolate Cherry Candies (skinny chocolate with a twist) for the Deep S days... I'll post that recipe soon. 

But here's a picture... 

 
      And here's my menu beginning January 2, 2015. (Some of the recipes are linked and it is printable for your convenience)

1 Week Fuel Cycle Menu

Day	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Friday: Jan2 Deep S	S Pancakes (page 379) Trimmaccino (rich)	Skinny Chocolate	Slimming Salmon Salad- no Avacado	Cake in a Mug	Baked Chicken Cabbage Side salad
Saturday: Jan 3 Deep S	Fried Eggs Trimmaccino (rich)	Cake in a Mug	Slimming Salmon Salad-no Avacado	Veggies & Ranch	Pork Chops w/Mashed Cauliflower
Sunday: Jan 4 Deep S	Fried Eggs Trimmaccino (rich)	Veggies & Ranch	Salmon Patties Salad	Cake in a Mug	Crockpot Pork Broccoli Side Salad
Monday: Jan 5 Fuel Pull	Egg White Omelet (page 217) Shrinker- Hot	Cake in a mug	Coffee Fat Stripping Frappe	Choco Pudding (page 366)	Egg roll in a Bowl
Tuesday: Jan 6 Fuel Pull	Egg White Omelet (page 217) Trimmaccino (light)	Choco Pudding (page 366)	Cake Batter Frappe	Veggies	Loaded Fotatoe Soup (page 294)
Wednesday: Jan 7 E	Sweet Cinnamon Porridge (page 227) Shrinker- Hot	Sprouted Cinnamon Scone	Waldorf Salad (page 300)	Caramel Apple Smoothie	Lighter Side of Chili (page 330)
Thursday: Jan 8 E	Sprouted Cinnamon Scone Trimmaccino (light)	Caramel Apple Smoothie	Waldorf Salad (page 300)	Cottage Berry Whip	Balsamic chicken w salad (page 324)