The Art of Self Serve Frozen Yogurt

My favorite thing on this earth is frozen yogurt.

Especially the self serve kind.  I consider it an art.

If there is a froyo shop around, you best bet I'm gonna ask if we can go!  It is expensive (especially if you overflow your cup like I do), so I only get it on special occasions.  My absolute favorite time to have it is on our way home from a race.  Since it is yogurt, these places have healthy choices!  They are filled with probiotics and live and active cultures.  The protein, little sugar, and toppings and fruit that can be added are great for recovery.  Saturday I went to Menchie's.  That's where the pictures below are from.  I also love Yogli Mogli, Sweet Frog, Cameez (which I have only seen in Frisco, Colorado; they also have self-serve oatmeal and coffee).  Our mall has also recently gotten a Red Mango.  I've never been to the Orange Leaf, but I have heard it is good as well.  Some TCBYs are also becoming self-serve.

 

Information on these health benefits and store locations can be found on these websites:

Orange Leaf

TCBY

Red Mango

Menchie's

Sweet Frog

Yogli Mogli

Cameez

Sometimes there are toppings that go really well with certain flavors, so why put toppings only on top?  I layered mine up!

Layer one:  Pumpkin topped with cheesecake bites

Layer two:  Cake batter topped with Recees Pieces, carob chips, dark chocolate chips, and espresso beans

Layer three:  Peanut Butter topped with more Recees Pieces, caramel turtles, and Heath

Layer four:  Praline

Below is the finished product!  I swirled the Cake Batter and Pumpkin on top and added some more cheesecake and candy corn pieces for the finishing touches, because if it looks good, it will always taste better! 

I was reading an interview yesterday from Running Times on their high school athlete of the week, who is a repeat in this category.  Aaron Templeton from Hardin Valley just an hour or so down the road is one of the nation's top runners!  I agree with him on the last thing they quoted from him:  "It's not such a bad thing to have ice cream after a race."

Not Quite "Love/Hate Relationship" with Storms

Everyone experiences different hardships in their life.  We may see some as much worse or much more menial than others, but they all affect us in our own way.  Praying for each girl on the cross country team last night, I had this neat analogy pop in my mind.

When I was a little girl, I hated storms; I feared tham like crazy.  I would cry and be so afraid.  When I woud have problems, pains, or things going wrong or not my way, I would worry, get angry, make worse decisions out of selfishness, and have a bad attitude all around. 
Now that I'm older, I don't always like when bad weather storms come, but they don't scare me; they are actually interesting and entertaining.  I find ways to enjoy myself and make the most of the change in atmosphere.  In the same way, as I have matured in my faith, I have come to appreciate the storms in my life, becuase I know that God sent them to "make all things work together for" my good (Romans 8:28).  I may not like the interruption that the difficulty may bring, but I have the power to go through it knowing the end result will be better than the beginning.  "The end of a matter is better than the beginning and patience better than pride."  Ecclesiates 7:8  I have learned to (at least give it my best shot to) be joyful in all circumstances, look for the good, make the most of every moment, and appreciate the low moments there to keep me humble, as well as the high moments.

If you are down in a rut, I encourage you to listen to this song by Casting Crowns called Praise You in this Storm.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake

Friday mornings are my smoothie and popcorn in first block days, so this time I decided to take a different path with my smoothie.

 

I love pumpkin if you didn't know already, so I made one just like a pie, but healthier!

 

This shake has:

pumpkin (of course)

pumpkin butter

vanilla yogurt

cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice

Yoplait Greek Honey Caramel Frozen Yogurt

Honey Maid low fat honey graham crackers

cheesecake flavor pudding

vanilla protein powder

vanilla

This shake is great for you all who are craving all the indulgences of the fall seasons!  You can have the sweet stuff and still feel good about it, too!  This is a yummy choice for those hard workers who need an extra boost, since it has a little healthy fat from the Yoplait, carbs from the pumpkin, yogurt, and whole grain in the graham crackers, dairy from the yogurts and pudding, and antioxidants from the spices.

Wonderful Wednesdays

Guess what day it is!

 

I love Wednesdays.  I have the blessing of getting to start every Wednesday morning out with a group of some of my favorite girls.  My cross country team meets at Chick-fil-a for breakfast and Bible Study around 7:15.  Recently, we have all been bringing a verse to share each week.  It is so encouraging to hear things that speak to other Christians!  Someone may know or find a verse that I just love, but have never heard before that day.  We all have positive attitudes going into the school day.  Of course, getting some of their yummy coffee is always motivating for me in first block at school, too.  We also take prayer requests for anything and pray together before we leave.

 

I am so thankful my Dad is willing to take so much time each week to drive us and sit in CFA since our team is so young!  We have only 2 other drivers, and one of them can't go to school first period because of dual enrollment.  Lately, we have been having an over-full car!  Here we are last week!  9 of us total, including my Dad!

 

 

This Wednesday was also a great day at school!  I got so much done and felt confident in my midterm exams.

 

Cross coutry on Wednesdays is very predicatable.  Almost every week, we do what we call in park road run.  It is a 10k through the road of the park, campground, and boat ramp.  This is no easy run!  There is one especially killer hill!  I love it anyways.  Sometimes, however, we do group indian runs on the trails, which is what we did yesterday.  I was so hungry before practice, I was shaking.  It began to worry me, but Coach Farmer gave me a few Gatorade energy chews that he keeps in his truck.  That helped a little bit.  Sometimes we do themes on these runs for the next person going to the front, and this time we did rhyming words!  It was pretty funny; these themes always make the time pass faster.  The last mile was on our own, and I felt so strong through that hilly mile loop!  Every Wednesday we also do accelerations around a triangle of trees in a large, almost flat field next to the parking lot.  We go slow around the two short legs, and go hard like we are finishing a race around the long one.  We only did 4 accelerations today, but they felt terrific too!

 

Now I just had to wait on Dad to pick me up and get home to be in the biggest hurry of each week.  On Wednesdays that I have time (which I try to force time), I go to church after practice.  However, of course I have to eat first.  I like to have pizza on Wednesdays (I make my own). Monday night I had extra time, so I went ahead and made my sauce and mixed the cheese in with it, so tonight all I would have to do is warm up the sausage, put the mix on, and stick it in the oven.  Now I was off to the shower!  After cleaning up super quick, I stuffed my face with half of a pizza and fixed a bowl of cheesecake pudding with pumpkin, cinnamon, and graham crackers for dessert.

 

Now for the finale of my wonderful Wednesday:  church!  I just love going in and worshipping with my friends in Equip (our student ministry).  We also got our new shirts with the logo on them tonight.  I also love hearing Rob and our other leaders preach the Word.  Positive feelings always flow from my church family!

 

I look forward to every Wednesday!

 yummy dinner and dessert, church

Tis the Seasons for Decorations and Accessories

  I got all this stuff out and set out my fall decorations a couple weeks ago, but it just occured to me to post it!  I love these new hand sanitizers for the fall!  (I call them hanitizers for short.)  The eyes and mouth on the Jack O' Pumkin scent glow in the dark!  The fall line at B&BW always has my favorite scents of the entire year.  Smores and pumpkins are hard to beat.

Here are some of my many decorations.  Some things like the pumpkin, pumpkin-n-spice granola bar, pie spice, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin pie yogurt aren't decorations, but they go terrific with the season!  B&BW also has lotions, soaps, and candles so you can have an entire matching collection.  Of course, you can never forget Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang any time of year, so I have a sticker sheet of them in costume.  I used to have many Build-a-Bears, but now I only have one with an outfit for each season.  His cape and Halloween boxers have come out now, too!  They also glow in the dark.  Seeing the drawings, window clings, tasty treats, and pumpkins everywhere has got me looking forward to so many seasonal activities on the way!

 

It's not in this post, but I also have a Trick-or-Treat Tervis!

Cocoa Coffee Almond Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

Here is another recepie I made with the Bolthouse Farms drink.  Some of my favorite treats are also in this shake!  I took it for breakfast to school earlier in the week.

 

These are the ingreedients I blended up:

cocoa powder

almond butter

vanilla protein powder

Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccino

a little each of whole and unsweet vanilla almond milk

a banana

Stonyfield dark chocolate frozen yogurt

Stonyfield chocolate under vanilla yogurt

<<<The finished product on my desk in first block Physical Science!

Dark Chocolate Coffee Pancakes

Here is the first thing I made with the Bolthouse Farms drinks. These delicious pancakes are made with Bolthouse Mocha Cappuccino, coffee, chopped dark chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and whole grain batter. Tastes great with honey and sugar free syrup and a cup of coffee!