Now that I'm back from the beach, I can do some of the things that I look forward to doing around home during summer break. Unfortunately, I only have two weeks until I'm gone for another two weeks, and one of those weeks is already gone. This is going by way too fast!
What better way to start the day than a morning run at Panther Creek? That's what I do Monday through Friday, and sometimes on weekends, too. Summertime cross country is one of my favorite things to do, and this has been the first week this summer that I've gotten to go every day and not rush to leave!
Here is 60+ new shark teeth that I am adding to my collection that I started last year. I have given a couple away, but like I keep trying to tell myself, "Why have things just to have them? Share them! That makes it worthwhile." I sent one to my papaw in his Father's Day card because he has a much bigger collection than I do, which is what got me started looking for shark's teeth.
I had seen this coffee on the Life is Good website and put it on my "wish list" for whenever my parents or someone is looking for something to get me. Last week, they got it at Ingles! I can buy it just down the road from my house! Morristown just continues to step it up! There are also other flavors, but my main one to try is the S'more to Love, because I am in love with smores (especially marshmallows), but next I would love to try the Banana Bread Bliss.
Since I am back from the beach now, I am not spending so much money on desserts, as was my goal after going all out last week! Here are a couple healthy, hearty, and yummy dessert ideas I thought of. Freezer bananas are really good, and will stay fresh that way for a really long time, so that's how I've been keeping my fruits fresh. For the one on the left, I melted dark chocolate and drizzled it over, then stuck on peanuts and Peanut Butter Cheerios and froze it. On the right, I sliced my banana in half to make it easier to spread, mixed peanut butter, almond butter, and honey, spread them on, and topped it with peanuts before sending it back in the freezer!
Another great freezer advantage: when yogurts are going to expire, freeze them. They won't. Expiration dates are not always valid, as I have also noticed. I have many times bought yogurts accidently without realizing that the date was a month before then, but got lost on the shelf. It was still perfectly fine. Smell and test the texture and taste first, but they will usually still be good as new! Before we left for the beach, I had over a week's worth of yogurts that would hit their date while we were gone. I was a little worried that they might go to waste, so I froze them while we were gone, and now am enjoying them as I want them when I get them out of the freezer.
For the past month or so, Ingles has had the La Yogurt flavors as the cheapest yogurts they have! I thought at first it may be to clean them out, but they still have them freshly stocked each time I go! I am loving this, because it is a very good brand, and way cheaper now than it used to be. Depending on the flavor, they are either 55 or 65 cents each. That is a deal! The two that I get most are Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Maple. There are tons of other flavors that I would love to try, they are just not available at stores where I have been shopping. Another thing I've used here that I would love to try other flavors in is Arctic Zero ice cream.
Lately I've made a lot of maple protein shakes! I used a partially frozen cinnamon maple yogurt, Arctic Zero vanilla maple "ice cream," vanilla protein powder, sugar free syrup, honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and premade milk ice cubes and blended them all up=a perfect milkshake to feed those muscles and my sweet tooth!
There is a thing going around on Instagram right now where everyone is challenging one or two people to post their favorite (or one of their favorite) Bible verses and challenge someone else to do the same. I usually don't do those "chain message" type things that always used to go around like in elementary and middle school; I believe in Christ's plan, not the luck of forwarding a message/retweeting/etc. This, however, is a good thing in my opinion! It is great to have others to hold us accountable and see what many others have to share. This is only one of a few of my favorite verses, and it took my 3 days to choose. I decided on this one because I get really stressed out at times, but I know that if I just trust in God, He will fill me with joy and peace to power through and make the most of each and every day!
A new pancake creation! I got this idea while Mom and I were walking through Walmart a couple days ago and passed the marshmallows. Smores and pancakes, two of my favorites, so why not put them together? I used my Special K Dark Chocolate Protein drink and a little cocoa powder in the batter, some marshmallows, and pieces of graham cracker. To make it more photogenic and to add some more smore flavor (the marshmallows do better on top than in the pancakes if you want to try them), I put marshmallows and a bit more graham on top, then drizzled honey and syrup. After a long run, these were super tasty to refuel! One of my best creations yet!
The next day, I got another great smores idea! I am always looking for ways I can make dessert bowls with all kinds of coordinating snacks. Mom made brownies for Dad's birthday next week, and I knew that she would love for me to eat one. After hard work outside in the summer, I enjoy brownies, too, ya know! So I took a Healthy Choice Greek Dark Chocolate Swirl Frozen Yogurt (super tasty even by itself), Yoplait Greek Boston Crème Pie, TruMoo Chocolate Milk Scoops, and cool whip, adding a brownie, Fiber One Chocolate Squares, graham crackers, and marshmallows for a terrific smore in a bowl!
Something that was on my list of things to cook this summer was to make my own recipe apple cinnamon bread. After going to Walmart and loading up on pink lady apples, I just went in the kitchen one day and got on it. Last summer, my neighbor who had a garden brought me lots of zucchini and had her own zucchini bread recipe that I also made. I used her recipe as a guide, changing around some ingreedients, and whalah! Apple cinnamon bread.
The recipe:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups banana
3/4 cups pumpkin butter, sugars, honey, vanilla protein powder
2 cups grated/finely chopped apples
2 teaspoons vanilla
**Mix the above
Add: 2 1/2 cups flour (I used wheat)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, honey, oatmeal
**Stir together and spoon into 2 loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for around 1 hour. Depending on your oven heat, it may take more or less time, so check it!
I also keep my baked goods in the fridge when not in use to keep them fresh and moist longer.
I also got the idea to make a hashtag on Instagram for all my crafts and foods that I make, #KenziesCreations.
Are you ready for #CowAppreciationDay? I sure am! I love cows! They're so cute (and tasty)! Friday, July 11th will be our last day of practice at the park until the team goes to camp in Gatlinburg, and I have a great idea. All the girls love doing our Bible Studies once a week at
Chick-fil-a, so we should dress up (partially) and run there from the park and have breakfast! Katlyn and I talked about it this morning and think everyone would love to participate and hope that Farmer will let us.
This morning, Katlyn and I did one of my favorite things: a breakfast road run! Wanna hear about it? I posted about our fantastic morning, too. What a wonderful way to end this week! Happy #SmallBusinessSaturday!
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