Peanut Butter and Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

If you check out my recipe index (which is a HOT mess right now, but working on that!) you will easily discover that I love oatmeal and peanut butter and strawberries! So when my good buddy Amber posted her recipe for Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal, it only seemed natural to recreate it and add in come strawberries. The results or delicious. Want to know what this tastes like? A peanut butter oatmeal cookie with strawberries! Great for breakfast or a nice treat! Thank you Amber for sharing your awesome recipe!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 tbs brown sugar blend
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 oz strawberries, diced and rinsed

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well. Spread in pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4 @ 5 PPV
Serves 6 @4 PPV
Serves 8 @3 PPV



Linked at: The Latest Find, Ingredient Spotlight: Strawberries!

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil {Review & Giveaway}

When the chance came up for me to do a review and giveaway for Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, I was really excited. I had never tried coconut oil and I have been seeing it as an ingredient listed in more and more recipes I have been finding online. Tropical Traditions gets it name from the way it produces its Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil: the old traditional way. This oil is made by hand, by small scale family farms. Since the farmers live near the coconut groves, all of the oil is processed within 24 hours of harvest.

Before receiving my sample to try I had never cooked with coconut oil. So far, I have used it in two different ways for cooking and both ways the results were fabulous. When I first opened the jar, I was instantly captivated with the scent of fresh coconut!

In my Brownie Cookies, I substituted melted coconut oil for vegetable oil. The results were yummy, I just need to remember that if you mix melted coconut oil with cold ingredients, it will solidify :) In the process of rolling to cookies, I also found an additional benefit of the coconut oil, instant skin softening. After rolling out the cookies and washing my hands, they were so soft and smelled so good!

I have also pan fried tilapia and also my Tuna Bites in the coconut oil. Both times, the fish cooked up great leaving behind great flavor. There are some oils I have cooked with that leave behind a very oily nasty smell, but since this oil smells pleasant to start with, there is no such problem! I look forward to trying the coconut oil in smoothies and more baking experiments. 

For those of you out there unfamiliar with the nutritional info:

1 tbsp has 117 calories, 14g Fat, 0 cholesterol. In Weight Watchers speak, that comes out to be 4 PPV per serving!

A huge thank you to the folks at Tropical Traditions for allowing me to review their excellent product and offer a sample to one of my readers as well. Check out the rafflecopter below to learn how you can get your entries to win!

Looking for more info? Check these resources!


o How to Use Coconut Oil: There are hundreds of uses! 
o Buy Coconut Oil: A guide to buying coconut oil online 
o What is Virgin Coconut Oil? 

For an extra chance to win, check out my friend Kelly's blog, Practical Savings! She is giving away a quart of oil too!

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product 
to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I 
under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in 
return for the free product.

Tuna Bites

It has literally been years since I have had Tuna Bites. Even scrounging the internet, I didn't have much luck finding a recipe for a spice blend. These turned out really really great. Perfect for an appetizer, or on top of a salad. Awesomeness, bite sized!

Ingredients:
6 oz Ahi (yellowfin) Tuna Steaks, cute in to 1-2 inch cubes
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp old bay
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1 tbs Virgin Coconut Oil

Preheat skillet over medium high heat. Combine all dry spices in a bag, mixing bowl or small plastic container. Shake or stir to combine. Put tuna cubes in to seasoning and coat well. Add coconut oil to hot pan to melt. Carefully add the seasoned tuna to the hot oil, cooking on each side for 1-3 minutes depending on how rare or well done you want the tuna. Serve and enjoy!

Makes:

1 serving @ 8 PPV

2 Servings @ 4 PPV

4 Servings @ 2 PPV

Linked at: Melt in your Mouth Monday, Mop it up Monday, Hunk of Meat Monday, Weigh In Wednesday, Newly Weds Linky, What's New Wednesday, Fit and Fabulous Fridays, The Latest Find

Successful Saturday Link Up! {Week 9}

Welcome to Successful Saturdays!
This is the place where you can come and post a link to your blog to show us all something you did to be successful! It can be a recipe, a craft project, an organizational idea or pretty much anything (other than giveaways, unless it is related to your success, being successful, or incorporated in another post)

This week has been a great week back on track for me, avoiding cold cereals and listening to my hunger levels. Cold cereals just don't fill me up, and eating tons of it is just not the best option for me :)

Last week, our post with the most views goes to Kammie at Sensual Appeal. her breakfast cookies look AMAZING :) Thank you for linking up!!

Here's how it works:

-Please link up to the URL of your post, not the URL of your main blog. When it asks for "Name", type in the name of your recipe, etc!
-Please leave a link back to this post in your post and grab my button for your blog(please pass the word to your blog friends for more fabulous recipes & successes!)
-Leave me a comment telling me that you've linked up.
-Please visit at least one others and comment on their wonderful additions to this party.

<a href="http://successful2gether.blogspot.com/search/label/successful%20saturdays"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a400/angiewuest02/successful-saturdays.gif"></a>

Whole Wheat French Toast

We love breakfast foods. If we could get away with eating them for every meal, everyday, we could go for a very very very long time before getting bored with it. This is a more "whole" food version of my standard french toast. And it is yummy, to boot. WIN WIN!

Ingredients:

• 3 Eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tbs vanilla extract
• 2 tbs flax meal
• 3/4 tbs cinnamon
• 6 slices Whole Wheat Bread (I used Arnold's), cut in half

Preheat griddle or skillet over medium heat, spray with pan spray. Combine all ingredients, except for bread, in a mixing bowl. Dip the bread slices in the egg mix and cook til golden brown on both sides. Serve and enjoy!

3 Serving @ 8 PPV
4 Servings @ 6 PPV

Linked at: The Latest Edition

Roasted Tomato Basil Frittata

When I made the Roasted Tomatoes, I knew that I needed a dish to put them in, and since these egg bakes are fabulous for my hubby's breakfasts, I incorporated them in to the ingredients. The results were delicious!



Print Recipe

Ingredients:
8 Eggs
1/4 heaping cup green onions, diced
1/2 recipe Quick & Dirty Roasted Tomatoes
1/4 shredded cheese, with 2% milk
6 slices deli lunch ham

Preheat oven to 375 and spray 9 inch glass pie pan with cooking spray. Beat together all ingredients and pour in to pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through. Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4 @ 6 PPV
Serves 2 @ 11 PPV


Linked at : Fit and Fabulous Fridays,  Feed your Soul, What's New Wednesday, Mop It Up Mondays

Quick & Dirty Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Yet another fantastic recipe from The Bitchin' Kitchin'!

Quick & Dirty Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Print Recipe

• 1 pint Grape Tomatoes
• 2 tsp garlic infused olive oil (or plain olive oil)
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• dash or two of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450F. Slice tomatoes in half length wise and toss together with remaining ingredients. Place on a baking sheet, lined with foil & sprayed with cooking spray, in a single layer. Roast for 10-20 minutes or until bottoms start to turn brown. 

1 Serving @ 4 PPV
2 Servings @ 2 PPV
4 Servings @ 1 PPV