Evolution Fresh - Sweet Green with Lime

I hope ya'll had a wonderful Halloween weekend! I definitely did!

For my Halloween party I dressed up as one of the PNK monsters from Monsters University. 

I had so much fun but unfortunately I didn't eat all that great this past weekend. But this week I'm back on track and will push myself to throw in a couple extra workouts throughout the week to make up for it.

My new favorite mid-afternoon snack is Evolution Fresh - Sweet Green with Lime. It tastes amazing. Thanks to their awesome and detailed ingredients list its easy to replicate if you have a juicer. If you check out their website they also have a lot of other recipes for tasty and healthy juices. 

Check out these awesome ingredients.

• Celery 
  6 3/4 stalk
• Apple 
  3/4
• Cucumber 
  1/5
• Spinach 
  2 leaves
  
  
• Parsley 
  snip
• Romaine 
  3/4 leaves
• Kale 
  1/2 leaves
• Lemon 
  squeeze
• Lime 
  squeeze
  
  
  
  
• Parsley 
  snip
• Wheat Grass 
  38 blades
• Clover sprouts 
  snip
  
  

SerVING SIZE 8 FL OZ (240 ML)

SERVINGS PER CONTAINER ABOUT 2

Amount per serving	% Daily value*
Calories	50
Calories from fat	0

Amount per serving	% Daily value*
Total fat 0g	0%
Saturated fat 0g	0%
Trans fat
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 150mg	6%
Potassium 550mg	16%

Amount per serving	% Daily value*
Total Carbohydrate 11g	4%
Dietary Fiber 0g	0%
Sugars 10g
Protein 1g

Vitamin A	8%	Vitamin C	6%
Calcium	6%	Iron	2%

INGREDIENTS: JUICES (CELERY, APPLE, CUCUMBER, SPINACH, ROMAINE LETTUCE, KALE, LIME, LEMON, PARSLEY, WHEAT GRASS, CLOVER SPROUTS).

 Source: http://www.evolutionfresh.com/en-us/juice/sweet-greens-lemon-juice

If you're not a fan of green veggies I would suggest trying another more fruity flavor but I love how healthy this one tastes plus its just slightly sweet. 

Leprechaun (Spinach) Cupcakes

Okay, these are awesome! I found this recipe on Weelicious, for spinach muffins. (I love Weelicious. I love the kid's themed recipes. I refuse to grow up.) I figured that muffins are the breakfast cousin of cupcakes so I decided to just tweak it a tad and throw some Hungry Girl Frosting on it. Do not worry they do not taste like spinach or anything healthy. They really taste like a cupcake, a really dense, yummy cupcake. Best of all, they are only 138 calories with frosting!

Cupcake Ingredients:

1/2 cup applesauce (1 applesauce cup)

1 large egg

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 heaping cup fresh spinach - packed

1/4 cup Blue Agave 

2 tablespoons coconut oil - softened

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or wheat flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting Ingredients:

1/4 cup fat-free cream cheese 

2 tbsp Splenda No Calorie Sweetener  

1/2 cup Cool Whip Free 

I just noticed that the Baking Soda is missing from the group photo. Sorry.

Throw the applesauce, egg, vanilla extract, spinach, agave, and coconut oil into the blender or food processor. 

Pulse until they are all combined and liquefied. 

Pour the liquid spinach mixture into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir all the ingredients together until it is all fully incorporated.

Pour the mix into a cupcake tin lined with baking sheets and bake at 350*F for 12 minutes. 

Take out and cool. 

While the cupcakes are cooling, place the cream cheese and Splenda in a bowl and stir until combined. Then, add the Cool Whip, continuing to stir until you have a creamy frosting. Take out the spoon/whisk and lick it clean. Soooo gooood. 

Frost each cupcake with 2 tsp of the frosting. 

Enjoy.

They're actually pretty easy to make. I really thought it would be more complicated. They are really yummy and really low in calories which is great. I think they would be awesome around Christmas time as Grinch cupcakes too. 

Please let me know what you think of them.

                                                                                          

                                                                                          What are your plans for St. Patrick's Day? 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cupcake with 2 tsp frosting

Amount Per Serving

Calories 138 Calories from Fat 48

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 5.3g 8%

Saturated Fat 3.9g 19%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 21mg 7%

Sodium 173mg 7%

Total Carbohydrates 19.7g 7%

Dietary Fiber 0.6g 2%

Sugars 7.3g

Protein 2.6g

Vitamin A 7% • Vitamin C 1% Calcium 3% • Iron 5%

Nutrition Grade D+

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Green Pina Colada

Alright, so I did it again. I made another green smoothie. Had you told me last week that I would be making these things like crazy and loving them I would have told you to take your predictions somewhere else, you crazy psychic. 

With the weather being so amazing lately I was craving something tropical. I'm not normally a huge fan of Pina Coladas because I don't really like cream with my alcohol, but since there isn't any alcohol in this I loved it. 

When I was little we used to go to the Myrtle Beach every summer for the 4th of July. We had the same beach house every year that was right across the street from this resort that had a Tiki Bar on the beach. My mom would always get us Pina Coladas, mine was of course virgin. Tasting this drink reminded me of that. 

Here is my health-ified version of those amazing fruity beach drinks. 

Ingredients: 

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil -Softened (I like Trader Joe's brand because it has a subtle coconut flavor)

1 Cup Frozen Pineapple

2 Heaping Handfuls of Spinach

1/4 Cup Lite Thai Coconut Milk

About half a cup of ice

A couple splashes of water

This kind of coconut milk.

Throw everybody in the blender. 

I like my smoothies really liquefied so I ended up pressing the "smoothie" button twice. Of course if you like thicker smoothies you could probably only press it once. 

Side note: I don't know about regular blenders but the Blendtec has a specific button for smoothies.

I admit, it is a much more awesome color than a regular Pina Colada.

     

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 319 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 252 Calories from Fat 158

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 17.5g 27%

Saturated Fat 14.9g 74%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 88mg 4%

Total Carbohydrates 25.9g 9%

Dietary Fiber 4.2g 17%

Sugars 15.7g

Protein 4.2g

Vitamin A 171% • Vitamin C 166% Calcium 11% • Iron 18%

Nutrition Grade B

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

What is your favorite tropical drink?

Green Elvis Protein Shake

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this coming weekend, Pretty Little Pantry is going GREEN! Well, I mean all green food that is. Wish me luck in my quest to come up with ideas for green food all week.

To start the week off I've decided to share my favorite after-gym treat. I like to call this delicious protein shake the "Green Elvis". As we all know, Elvis loved peanut butter and banana sandwiches and for good reason. Peanut butter and banana is possibly the greatest combination to ever be invented. So in honor of The King and his delicious sandwich I've named my favorite smoothie after him.

Now this smoothie is obviously much better for you than Elvis' favorite treat but I believe it tastes even better. Seriously. 

Ingredients:

1  Banana (it's even better if it's frozen)

1 Scoop Chocolate Whey Protein Powder

1/2 Cup 0% Greek Yogurt 

1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (Or whichever you prefer)

2 Tbsp PB2

~4 Cups Spinach (I just fill the blender almost to the top with spinach)

Take all of the ingredients and just dump them in the blender and press the smoothie button. 

That's it. Enjoy. 

It's really really good. It makes about 2 large cups and it keeps you full for hours. 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 641 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  388 Calories from Fat  66

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  7.4g 11%

Saturated Fat  0.7g 4%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  20mg 7%

Sodium  666mg 28%

Total Carbohydrates  49.2g 16%

Dietary Fiber  9.7g 39%

Sugars  25.4g

Protein  40.1g

Vitamin A 237% • Vitamin C 73% Calcium 198% • Iron 67%

Nutrition Grade A

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

               What do you enjoy after a good workout?