Healthy S W E E T S

I love sweets, but I try to distance myself as far from them as humanly possible!
and as for baking....

It hasn't happened much in the Young house. For good reason too:
 
1.. I HAVE ZERO SELF CONTROL
and well....
2. I don't want to weigh 500lbs.

And so the story goes on...

 I started following some amazing people on Instagram.
These chics make bad, fatty, and sugary food.... not bad, not sugary, and not fatty.

I say, Halleluiah!

That being said, things have changed around here lately. I have a new found love for baking healthy delicious "sweets".

My 1st Attempt:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Brownies

Batter: 2 cups oat flour, 2 scoops chocolate whey protein, 3 tbsp PB2 powder, 1/2 cup stevia in the raw, 1tsp baking soda, 1/2c unsweetened apple sauce, 3/4c unsweetened almond milk, 4 egg whites - Mix all dry ingredients first then add in wet ingredients- mix well. - as for topping I melted 2 tbsp of PB and poured on top prior to baking. Pour in 8x8 cake pan and bake at 350 for 15 min. (Middle will not be fully cooked- removing early prevents them from drying out) Thanks to cleanitupgirl for the inspiration!

My 2nd Attempt:

Coconut Cake Batter Blondies

 

These are my favorite so far!!!

 

Ingredients: 1 can chickpeas drained/rinsed, 2 scoops vanilla whey + 3/4 tbsp. golden batter cake mix ( or 2 scoops cake batter protein), 1/3 cup PB, 1/3 cup honey, 1egg, 2 egg whites, 2 tsp. vanilla or coconut extract, 1/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tbsp. unsweetened coconut + coconut/sprinkles for topping. Mix all ingredients together in food processor/blender, spray 8x8 baking pan or line. Spread evenly in pan, top with coconut/ sprinkles, bake 20min @ 350. :)

I am HOOKED!

And my picky husband is too!!!

Try these out and let me know what y'all think.

What's on the agenda for this week you ask???
- Banana Protein Muffins
- Protein Peanut Butter Cups

mmmmm MMMMMM mmmmmmm  MM MM!!!



Dirty 30 Brewbash!!

 

 

Last weekend we celebrated my husbands 30th BIRTHDAY!

He is now officially "the OLD MAN" ;)

 

I had such a fun time planning this big day and have been dying to share the details with you guys!

 

So without further adieu, lets get to it!

 

The invites:

 

 

I purchased these from JacksMaster etsy shop and printed them off at home.

 

We asked each guest to bring one chilled 6-pack of their favorite unique brew- 2 beers from each 6 pack were entered into the beer tasting. Each guest voted on their favorite and the winner was awarded a giant beer mug filled with goodies/gift card.

 

The party décor:

 

 Most of the décor was handmade.... Thank goodness for the enormous amount of Pinterest inspiration!!!

 

 

To keep the categories simple we went with lights, ambers, and darks. I had planned to do IPA's, lagers... etc etc. but soon discovered that there are FAR tooooo many categories of beer.

 

 

These fans are so easy to make!! For the small fans I used scrapbook paper, and for the large, I used wrapping paper (postage paper would work well too). Tutorial can be found here.

 

 

Handmade Burlap Birthday Banner

 

The beer tasting sign was another pinterest inspired idea. This thing literately cost me a measly $5 bucks to make. I dug up a piece of plywood in the garage, cut it to the size I wanted, bought a can of chalkboard spray paint and went to town. Piece. of. cake.

 

And as for the pig head....  This guy was the life of the party. He was pretty darn tasty too!!!!!!

 

The Chow:

 

 

We ordered a 60lb. pig, and it fed roughly 30 people... it was aaaammazingly good.

Along with it my mother in law made her famous bacon baked beans, and scalloped potatoes.

 

 

Appetizers included stuff we like to eat with beer. Pretzels with cheddar, cheddar popcorn, peanuts... and for the healthy people: vegi platter/ fruit platter

 

 

 

And for dessert: cupcakes by CupKates. Katie is a good friend of mine and she makes the BEST cupcakes! If you live in the eastern NC area look her up on facebook. yummm.

 

The BIG Celebration:

 

Festivities began with a surprise visit from Mike's Momma and Poppa.

 

 

 

Mike was definitely surprised!!! Especially when this was presented to him shortly after their arrival.

 

 

A custom engraved Colt45 1911. He was in heaven.

 

Party Time:

 

 

 

 

 

The Beer Tasting:

 

 



 

 

BOOM, bang, BOOM.

It's that time of the year again.... wow, how time flies.

 

I hope you all had a great weekend and got to shoot off some fun fireworks!

 

Living in North Carolina means you cannot buy nor shoot off "cool" fireworks.

 

It's pretty lame, not gunna lie.

 

BUT

We've managed to deal with it over the years and Hey... I guess we end up saving a ton of money by not buying those "cool" fireworks... one decent thing about it.... well, not really.

 

still LAME.

 

This year we started our festivities off in Surf City, NC with live bands and FIREWORKS over the sound.

 

 

 

The rest of our weekend included a few beach days... A few nights grilling out with friends. :) And lovely yard work.

 

 

We had a great weekend but now its time for a little relaxing and catching up....

 

AND prepping.

 

I start my new job Tuesday!!!

I am a little nervous... I don't know what to expect... Especially since I will not have my Dental Hygiene License yet. i.e.: Legally I cannot clean teeth without my license in hand.

 

As of today, good ol' North Carolina Dental Board has this message posted up.

 

 

 Must be nice to live in central NC right now...

 

I guess I shouldn't complain too  much, my license will be in my mailbox by Friday. YAAAYYYYYYY!!!!

 

I have worked by BUTT OFF for that little slip of paper. Cannot wait to have it in between my fingers! 

 

Well y'all time for me to wrap this up and catch some zzZZzzz'Z.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Till next time....................................................

 

Something Different... A Recipe.

Yesterday I woke up sick of my regular morning grub so I started digging around and came up with this lovely concoction!

Breakfast Pita Pizza

 

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pita bread

Eggs (scrambled)

Mushrooms

Tomato

Chicken Breast (shredded)

Green Pepper

Onion

Avocado

Parmesan Cheese (less fat than soft cheese)

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

I first cut the pita bread horizontally and sprayed it with olive oil, put  it in the oven alone for about 5 min. at 400 degrees to get the crust crispy.

I sautéed the mushrooms, green peppers, and onion. Heated up chicken that was left over from the night prior, and scrambled the eggs.

Add all of these lovely things on the pita bread and put it back in the oven for another 5 min. at 400 degrees.

 

yummmmmmmmmmmmm

 

These are so delicious and definitely something different than my normal blah egg whites!

Go ahead.... try it out, and let me know what y'all think!

 



Life & MY JOB HUNTING ADVENTURE



Life hasn't slowed down much since grad day.

We had a lot of family in town and as soon as everyone was gone... fit in a trip to Charlotte for my husbands obsession: Nascar...

 

On pit road :)

 

Father in law and Mike and I

 

We had a great time, it was a crazy race. One of the camera cables broke and hit a few fans/ caused a wreck... thank goodness everyone was okay.

 

... and then it was time for me to fly back home for my little sisters wedding.

 

 

Friday I caught the red eye out. 6am flight... yuk. BUT I was happy to get into town early as my trip was going to be short and sweet. (3days)

 

My weekend included lots of celebrating.

 

Celebrating that I PASSED my clinical exam...

&

Celebrating Chloe's wedding...

&

Celebrating that I was "home" and able to see all of my family and friends!

 

My littlest sister Amanda and I. She's not so little anymore... sniff sniff, she is all grown up!! It was great to see her!

 

Helping the sister set up her reception area

....

 

It turned out beautiful!!...

and the band was amazing!! Sammie & The Stylies.

 

 

And of course my sister looked more beautiful than ever... so happy for her!!!!!

 

Todd is perfect for her. So happy.

 

 

Isn't my sister just beautiful?!! Love her.

 

......

 

My weekend went by way too fast and before I knew it, it was time to get back to NC and start the grueling job hunt.

 

I was a bit worried as all of the recent graduates received their clinical exam scores on Friday afternoon. After we had a "pass" we were officially Registered Dental Hygienist and could start trying to find a J.O.B.

 

 I wasn't able to get out and "sell" myself until Tuesday.

 

I graduated with a bunch of really talented Hygienist, and I know the early bird gets the worm. I wasn't being too optimistic about this job hunting thing now was I??

 

I pulled an all nighter writing up thirty personalized cover letters and printing off thirty resumes. I mapped out a route on mapquest and hit the ground running first thing Tuesday morning.

 

 

I was all nerves.

 

"Honey, does this look okay?"

"Does it look professional?"

"Hair up, or down?"

"Are these pants too tight?"

"Are my heels too high?"

...

GOSH... I am a worry wart!!

 

I made it to 15 offices, all of which said they weren't hiring until I came on an office that I really wanted to work at. I had worked with this doctor briefly at the college and I really was impressed with him. You could tell he was still passionate for dentistry even after 20+ years in private practice.

 

I walked in... dropped off my resume. The receptionist said she would make sure the doctor looked at it, and I was out the door.

 

I was about to get in my car and drive off, when a patient of theirs came running out after me, saying that the doctor wanted to see me. WOW, realllllyy??!!

 

I sat down with one of the doctors and she barely looked at my resume...

Then the craziest, most awesome thing happened.

She asked when could I start?

 

I was like "Are you serious?" haha

 

I feel so blessed and extremely excited.

 

My first job as a Dental Hygienist!!! I start on the 9th of July. CANNOT WAIT!