Hi Everyone,
Sunday was a big day for me! I revamped my life, well at I’m least trying too!! After my wake-up call from Jenny, I decided I need to re-adjust my lifestyle just a tad bit. I’ll get to that in a moment, but first I wanted to show you my latest and greatest drink.
You are looking at my healthy version of Starbucks Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino. This drink is creamy, sweet and simply delicious! I tested this out on my Hubbie, who is not a big fan of strawberries, and he said this is really good!! He drank it right up. Than I told him there wasn’t any yogurt in it and he was like really, it’s really good. I get a better response from him when I informed him of no yogurt. He hates yogurt, only because I love it so much!!
This Frappe is completely healthy and vegan! I made it with frozen unsweetened coconut milk, frozen and fresh strawberries, a pinch of vanilla extract and one packet of stevia. This drink in my opinion is way better than Starbucks. Sorry Starbucks, you know I love your drinks, but this one is so much better than yours. nah nah!
What gave this drink the creaminess is the coconut milk. I am so happy Trader Joe’s now carries it. I love it!!! I microwaved the frozen strawberries to get the juice from the fruit. It added the extra flavor to the drink. I also used the most over ripe strawberries that I had, that were so sweet. I used packet one of Stevia,to sweetened the drink a little more. The little bit of vanilla I used gave it a dessert like taste. I am very pleased with this drink, this is another one that will go in my drink rotation. So if you’re looking for a healthy version of Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino, this is the drink for you.
Now you know I always have to do my comparisons, let’s see how I did.
Starbucks 12 oz Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino with non-fat milk, no whip: Calories: 230, Fat: 0, Sodium: 190, Carbs: 53, Fiber 0, Sugar: 5, Protein: 42
My Frappe 12oz: Calories: 83.6, Fat: 5.2, Sodium: 151, Potassium: 114, Carbs: 6.9, Sugar: 4.6, Protein: .04
Not to bad! Mine is more than half the calories and look at the sugar difference. The fat in mine is a healthy fat, so don’t be afraid of it! Also the carbs, are way lower! he he I love this!
- 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
- ⅓ cup strawberries, frozen
- 6 medium strawberries,fresh, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp, vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. stevia (one packet)
- Freeze coconut milk in a shallow dish. Once frozen, leave on counter to thaw a bit or microwave for about 30 seconds until it's thawed enough for your blender to handle. Just don't overheat it.
- In a microwave safe dish add the frozen strawberries and defrost for about 45 seconds. Mash strawberries with a fork. You are looking for the juice of the strawberries.
- In a blender add coocnut milk, vanilla extract, frozen strawberries with the juice, fresh strawberries and stevia. Crush/blend until incorporated about 2 minutes.
I wanted to tell you about my new lifestyle change. The reason I originally started this blog was to stay accountable for my weight loss and issues I may have. I figured if I told the world what I was doing, than I would have to stick with it!! I always keep my word, but some how I fell off that and basically started blogging just about healthy recipes. I found a new love for cooking and I wanted to share it with you, but some of my priorities got a way with me.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still plan on sharing a healthy recipe with you just about everyday, as I have been, but I also need to talk about my health and fitness goals. I know a lot of people have weight issues and there are lucky ones who don’t but, I fall under the issues category. I know I will always be the person, who has to always have to watch what they eat and exercise. I don’t mind doing that, I find it fun, most of the time, but I just need to remember that and not let it slip away. So today I want to share with you some of my new goals.
- Exercise 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes, no blogging until it’s done!
- Drink lots of water
- Try to stay away from processed foods
- Eat more clean
- Stay around 1500 calories a day, which means 300 calorie breakfast, 400 calorie lunch, 150 calorie snack, 500 calorie dinner, 150 calorie dessert
Thats it! Pretty simple!! I’ve been pretty much following the eating portion of it, but the exercise part is hard. Sunday I got up I put on my new heart rate monitor and did HIIT (high intensity interval training) which basically is speed up, slow down, speed up slow down, kind of like driving in commute. 🙂 I did it by jogging and then speed walking for 3 miles, and I burned 430 calories! Woohoo!!! Thats a lot for me, since normally when I did that in the past I would burn about 335 calories. I’m so happy about this!
My heart rate was around 149, and the max was 179. Not to shabby!! This is how I did it. I started out by walking fast, than jogging and I would push myself as hard as I could for as long as I could, probably about a minute, than I would slow down, speed walk and once my heart rate started to go down to far I would jog again. I let my heart rat monitor tell me when I needed to push myself. During the last few minutes before I was almost home, I just walked to cool down, than stretched afterwards. You have to know I am not a runner or jogger, I don’t like it, but I felt amazing afterwards. I am going to try to do this every Sunday morning.
After my workout, I had a big bowl of steel cut oats with blueberries, peaches, honey and a dollop of greek yogurt with cinnamon. It tasted wonderful and I never realized how yummy peaches and blueberries are together. To keep up with my healthy lifestyle I decided to make a trip to Target to pick up some nuts and some new workout clothes. There having a big Clarence sale. I got a nice tank with a built-in bra for $12.00 and matching shorts for $8.00. Plus they are having a sale on regular in stock workout clothes. You should check it out. Oh and I also got some Glad Freezerware for some batch cooking that I plan on doing, I just haven’t gotten around to it, but I will.
After Target I went to Trader Joe’s for my weekly shopping trip. This was a big one, kind of a pricey one, but I wanted to be stocked up on healthy foods for the week. I have some new recipes I want to try out! I spent $149.00 at Trader Joe’s, but I got some good stuff! Not everything could fit in the picture.
Lots of goodness going on in that picture. Now I need to get chopping and start making my big batches for the week. Oh, but I guess I should make dinner first. Hmmm, what should I have?
Off to do some cooking!
Have a wonderful week!
Toodles,
Jennifer
P.S. One last thing, remember, I am just like you, and if I can do it, so can you! So make a tiny healthy change today and you’ll be glad you did.
