Guiltless Goodies Week

Did Monday fly by or what?!? Holy moly! Today was one of the fastest Mondays that I’ve had in awhile. Let’s hope the rest of the week flies by this quickly!

Ok, let’s get right to it and recap today’s eats. I have a hot date with my husband, pug, and couch in a few minutes. There’s some serious cuddle + TV time on the agenda for this evening. For some reason, we’re all exhausted tonight.

After lunch, I snacked on a Mmmaple Pecan Chewy Granola Bar from Nature’s Path, which was very tasty. It had lots of sweet maple flavor and it was soooo soft and chewy. The texture sort of reminded me of a cookie. I also drank a mug of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride with my granola bar.

After work, I headed straight to Starbucks to write. While there, I ordered a non-fat Dark Cherry Mocha, which is a brand new drink at Starbucks. The Dark Cherry Mocha actually debuts tomorrow, but I got a special sneak preview today!

The Dark Cherry Mocha was quite delicious– very chocolaty with a hint of cherry flavor. It could have easily passed as a dessert, especially with the whipped cream on top.

Instead of whipped cream, I asked for extra foam on my mocha.

Before dinner, Mal and I took Murphy for his long walk of the day. We chatted and walked around our neighborhood for a good 45 minutes before heading home. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this afternoon! I am so ready for spring to be here!

When we arrived home, I snacked on a mini Larabar that Amie sent me the other day. I love these little Larabars! Thanks, Amie!

I was really snacky this afternoon, wasn’t I? I didn’t realize how much I ate until I started writing about it. I guess I was just really hungry? Or stressed? Bored?

A little while later, I started making dinner. I’ve had some pesto from Bear Pond Farm in the freezer for weeks now, so I finally incorporated it into a meal this evening.

Inspired by a Women’s Health magazine’s recipe for Savory Seafood Penne, I created a similar pesto-penne dish for dinner tonight.

In the mix:

It was a great meal– lots of bold flavors, satisfying, and tasty.

Guys, I have something to confess: I ate the entire dozen of Sweet and Salty Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that I baked on Saturday afternoon in about 24 hours. It wasn’t my finest moment, but stuff like that happens every now and then, right? So, after another cookie “overindulgence,” I’ve decided to treat my dessert habit a little differently this week. I suppose we can call it an “experiment.”

As you know, I almost always crave something sweet after meals– usually a cookie or a piece of chocolate will do the trick– but maybe a more nutritious treat would satisfy my cravings, too? So, this week, I’m going to create semi-healthy, single-serving goodies to see if they will satisfy my sugar cravings (instead of baking a dozen cookies!).

I realize that not all of my recipe experiments will turn out perfectly (mostly because I am just winging it in the kitchen), but hopefully, they will give those of you with a sweet tooth some ideas for more nutritious desserts, and if one of them sounds good to you, definitely give it a try!

Here’s tonight’s Guiltless Goodie:

Ingredients:

Directions:

This Guiltless Goodie turned out pretty well. It was soft and cake-like with a subtle pumpkin spice flavor to it. It wasn’t my best kitchen experiment, but it definitely satisfied my dessert craving and filled me up. The combo of pumpkin + egg whites is sitting in my stomach like a rock!

Time to chill with M & M! Good night!