Happy Sunday, Goodbye Weekend & Pumpkin Spiced Raisin Balls

Good afternoon and Happy Sunday, guys! It feels so much like a Monday for me .. but that's probably just cause I'm not used to working on Sundays.

Hope everyone started their morning with a positive outlook and got/are getting shit done :)

My 4:00-am wake-up started deadly! Happy as a blue-jay I tell ya'!

Moving on, here's a recap of my day off on Saturday.

So yesterday started with a 10-am get-up and a lazy morning at home! Yup, home home home! I wanted to relax and really take advantage of my day off in the new house.

I woke up yesterday feeling like garbage and I'm sure it stems back to eating so much on Friday night (cliff, pear, starbucks x 2, sushi, trail mix .. GAHHH). I'm pretty sure I was still full from the vast order at Sun Sushi so I went with a semi-light breakfast and had some unsalted trailmix with vanilla greek yogurt.

I tidied the house a little (pretty much just did dishes) and convinced myself to sit and watch an episode of Dexter while I ate.

After breakfast I organized some Christmas gifts and jumped on the wrapping train.

My new rule of thumb is to wrap a minimum of 5 gifts per day so that they don't pile up and end up in gift bags on Christmas eve. I wrapped 10! Weeeeeee!

A little while later, I started to get a little munchy so I had a another handful of trail mix and a sliced pear.

After my little snack I decided to do some cooking/baking in preperation for the next 5 days at work.

On the menu: Hot n' Spicy sweet potato fries, Hot n' Spicy pumpkin seeds (first time I got to spice my own seeds since I've only ever eaten everyone else's), avocado & garbanzo dip and pumpkin spiced raisin balls.

I plan to share my recipes for all of the above, but for now, I'll leave you with a healthy and tasty pumpkn spiced raisin ball recipe that I kinda winged (but was left satisfied with).

Pumpkin Spiced Raisin Balls

Ingredients 

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder 

1/2-C of almond flour

1/2-C of almond breeze

1/2-C of egg whites 

1/2-C of pecans

1/2-C of raisins 

1-tsp of baking powder

1.5T of pumpkin pie seasoning

Pinch of salt for taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees
2. Add all wet ingredients in a small bowl
3. Add all dry ingredients in a larger bowl
4. Add both wet and dry ingredients into one and roll into small cookie balls
5. Cook on 350-degrees for 20-25-minutes 
6. Let cook, taste & enjoy!

YUM!


After a little baking, it was off to Starbucks to meet and catch up with Val. Val was at the house last week for healthy baking night and was quite surprised with the lack of baking supplies I had. It's not that I don't own baking supplies (seeing how I've been a little Martha in the kitchen lately), but it's because a lot of my things are still at my other apartment.

After a hot chocolate/blonde roast, the lovely Val gave me a housewarming gift with the absolute essentials!

Oven Mitts  - for baking so I don't have to use the crappy little cloth flaps while baking.

Measuring Cups - so we don't have to eyeball measurments.

Mixing Bowls - so we don't have to keep using then washing then using then washing the same two bowls over and over again.

Farmstand Apple Candle - so the kitchen smells delish, and gets us in the baking mood :)



O, and she gave me this lovely card.

I can definitely see some healthy baking nights in the future!

Thanks, Val :)


For the remainder of the night I relaxed at Starbucks with a few favourites (you know who you are) and picked at the ol' blog while sharing some treats!

Ps. Treating myself is DONE! My god .. I wrote about feeling like garbage this morning and now I'm at it again. I'm serious, eating poorly really doesn't make me feel good. I don't think it's worth it!





image source

Anyhow, just wanted to stop in and and finish a post that I started last night! I hope 1. you're all having a lovely Sunday, regardless if you're working or not and 2. you all stay positive today! It's too beautiful and crisp out to be crooked!!

Also, new 'live by' - Move, Sleep, Repeat!

Questions
1. Did you exercise this weekend?
2. How much coffee do you drink on your days off?
3. What's your favourite Starbucks treat?

Ps. Lizzie @ Lizzie_fit nominated me for a Sunshine Award! Isn't that awesome?? Blog post coming asap! :)

Thanks, Lizzie!

And guys, please check out her blog! Great material with regards to eating clean, working out and living a well-balanced lifestyle in general!