Clean Eating

College Eats: Staying Healthy

8:30:00 AM



The freshman fifteen. Yea that's a thing. Eating healthy when you're away from home when you have no one to tell you that "maybe that giant monster cookie isn't such a good idea for lunch or dinner." can be really difficult. I really love eating healthy, I have for a really long time. I thought I would share some tips!


Clean Eating

Tips: 
1. If your school has a salad bar, use it. I get 99% of my food from my schools salad bar. Occasionally I'll have a soup, but only if there are no animal products. My school has a wide variety of toppings, and greens to choose from that make switching up salads fun and exciting. 
Salad Bar


2. Eat breakfast in your room. This is easy. Taking time to make breakfast in your room is consistently stated on so many sites as a healthier way to start the day. Oatmeal is my favorite! 
Organic Oatmeal


3. Read the labels! This is for anyone, even if you're not in school. If a product has ingredients that you can't pronounce, you probably shouldn't put that into your body. Standing in the aisle for 2 minutes extra to look before throwing it into your shopping cart might save you. 

4. Pre-pack meals. This might be hard if you're like me and live in the dorms. While I'm running around on lower campus, I like to have a pre-packed snack in my bag to take out anytime I get hungry. I snack a lot. 
Apples with Cinnamon are my favorite!

5. Look up some good YouTube workout videos! My favorite channels are Shayloss and Train with Monica. Since I did something funky to my knee I can't do legs as often, so my abs are going to look great. Probably. 

*Bonus Tip: Even though Organic food might be more expensive, you can always buy in bulk and freeze stuff. My mom freezes a lot of food and it's completely fine when we take it out later on. Also, coupons=best friends. 



Bar

Favorite Cookie Bars

2:45:00 PM


Don't yell at me. I know I keep saying "I'll do more recipe posts this summer!" and I honestly have been slacking on that part. Partially because most of the recipes I've been doing aren't changed in anyway from the original and I can't just copy someone else and call it my own! 
So here's one, that I've made before, haven't posted, but changed it up a bit. 

This recipe is fairly healthy, it includes oats, brown sugar, raisins, craisins, chocolate chips and butterscotch. I said fairly healthy right? 
I love eating, and healthy desserts that don't taste overly healthy are right up my alley! 

To make this you'll need:
*1/2 cup(100g) packed brown sugar
*1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter 
*2 teaspoons vanilla 
*1 cup (127g) whole wheat flour (the first time I made this I used white flour and it works just as well!)
*1 cup (80g) oats
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1/2 cup (120mL) milk (I've used chocolate almond milk every time, and you can't really taste the chocolate but it also works!) 
*1/2 cup butterscotch
1/2 cup raisins, craisins, or chocolate chips...or all three. 

Here's what you'll need to do! 

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 8x8 baking dish with parchement paper or nonstick spray and set aside
-In medium bowl, mix brown sugar and peanut butter (I used an electric mixer) until light and fluffy. 
-Mix in vanilla
-Add in flour, oats, salt and baking soda on medium speed (if using the mixer). The dough will get thicker and a bit clumpy but don't worry! 
-Add milk, then fold in your add-ins like chocolate chips, raisins, craisins etc
-Once completely combined, here I found it just comes right off the bowl and doesn't sit on it like cookie dough would, press it lightly into 8x8 dish
-Bake about 17-20 minutes, for my oven I did about 17, as it keeps the softness inside the bars

Near the end of the bars bake time, I melted about 1/3 cup butterscotch to drizzle on top once they came out. You can use those or regular chocolate chips, the packages tell you how long it's recommended to melt them. 
-I put the butterscotch on top right away as I haven't completely mastered it and it seems to not stay hot long enough! 
Last time I truly just drizzled the butterscotch on but it came out clumpy, I decided to make the rest of the bag which turned out to be just enough to cover the entirety of the bars! They went over well both times!! 

I love this recipe, and I definitely love to make these for parties or just for the family. 
What do you like for dessert? Have you got any favorite recipes?? 
Thanks again for reading! 
xx
Kenzie



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