Kath told me a long time ago (if I remember correctly) that it’s after your first jar of Barney Butter that you really fall in love with it. For me, it’s been 2 jars.

Don’t get me wrong, the first 2 jars I uber-enjoyed, but after the second jar ran out, when I tried using regular peanut butter…it just. wasn’t. the. same. Barney Butter has a depth of flavor that others can’t seem to compete with.

Lucky for me, I cracked open a fresh jar of Barney Butter, which I picked up yesterday.

Barney Butter makes breakfast better.

I enjoyed my Barney Butter today on hot, toasty Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat.

Breakfast toast + banana = well-rounded.

Breakfast + New Coffee Flavor = Awesomeness!

I got to try my new Fresh Market coffee flavor – Molten Chocolate. After scooping the coffee yesterday, my hand smelled like chocolate the rest of the afternoon – and they didn’t even touch any beans! So, this morning, I blended 1/2 Molten Chocolate with 1/2 Breakfast Blend to tone down the chocolate factor.

The result – delicious, rich, chocolate/coffee caffeine. Hubby hated it, but I LOVED it!

So happy to have a fresh jar of BB and some new coffee…ahh…it’s the little things in life sometimes, no?

Big Happy Birthday to Kelsey!!!!!!!!

Today was the first day of my Weekly Food Challenge with the ingredient chia seeds.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make a Chia Fizz drink or a smoothie, but smoothie won out because I feel like I haven’t been getting as many servings of fruit as I should.

I, of course, started with the key ingredient: chia seeds. I used white chia seeds (about 1 tbsp).

Add milk (about 1/2 cup).

Stir. Place in fridge for 10 minutes. Wait.

When the 10 minutes were up, I gathered the rest of my smoothie ingredients: frozen papaya, frozen (hand-picked) blueberries, frozen banana, frozen strawberries, organic baby spinach, and a TJ’s Greek Style Nonfat Blueberry Yogurt.

My ingredients looked like a rainbow in my blender!

So pretty!

Next I added my TJ’s yogurt and some milk.

Then, I blended till everything was smooth, but still thick (I had more milk to add with those chia seeds).

I got my chia seeds from the fridge and stirred them well. They had gelled up quite nicely!

I added the chia seeds and milk to the mix and blended till everything was combined.

My rainbow smoothies were perfect for me and hubby to enjoy post-lunch today. Yum!

Rainbow Chia Seed Smoothie
by me
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1-1.5 cup milk
• 1 TJ’s individual Greek yogurt (any flavor)
• handful frozen papaya
• handful frozen strawberries
• handful frozen banana
• handful frozen blueberries
• handful organic baby spinach

Directions:

1. Place chia seeds and 1/2 cup milk in a container. Stir and place in fridge to rest for 10 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes are over, add all frozen fruit (about 2-3 cups worth) and spinach (about 1/2 cup) to a blender. Add yogurt. Add milk. Blend till all ingredients blended smoothly. Mixture may be a bit thick.
3. Remove chia seed/milk mixture. Stir well. Add to blend. Blend until mixed well.
4. Serve and enjoy!

I pretty much just eye-balled everything for the above recipe, so sorry for no exact measurements. Just add a few handfuls of fruit, a bit of yogurt and a little milk. I didn’t use any additional sweeteners. Add milk till it’s the consistency you want. Remember, you can always add more milk, but you can’t take it back out. Add the milk gradually and you should be good to go!

Anyone else working on some awesome chia seed recipes for the Weekly Food Challenge?

Kath organized a group get-together at Nolen Kitchen for tonight, and hubby and I were able to join in on the festivities.

We had the good idea to arrive at the restaurant early to do dinner and our friends Amanda and Justin had the same idea! We ended up grabbing a table out on the patio. It was suuuuper humid outside – think Southern stickiness – but after being stuck in a cubicle all day, I was ready to be outdoors!

Though the special tonight was $2 beers, I ended up getting a $10 blueberry bellini. Oh well, it sounded tasty!

Everyone else showed up right around or after the food started arriving. We met up with the others: Kath, Matt, Allison, Caitlin, Jason, and Kate.

Amanda was kind enough to share one of her risotto fritters. They were nice and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with some gooey cheesy-cheese!

Hubby and I decided to eat tapas style and order a couple small plates. We started with some crab and artichoke dip, which we shared with Amanda and Justin to pay the favor of the risotto fritter back.

The crab dip was so much better than I thought it would be. I didn’t think I was a fan of crab dips, but this stuff was the bomb! Nice tender crab with pieces of artichoke and gooey-cheese…mmm…all on top of tender pita pieces. So good! I had a hard time stopping myself from eating this stuff. In fact, I think I only stopped when I ran out of pitas.

We also ordered a big Country Greek salad which had tons of fresh veggies, a light vinaigrette dressing, and delish cheese on top.

For our “entree”, we got some Kobe beef sliders with Nolen fries, baby greens, onions, and mayo.

During dinner, I let Kath play with my DSLR. I think she’s going to get one soon and I bet she’ll LOVE it as much as I love mine!!

Here are some people photos…I think Kath took most of these while she was playing my camera…I know Matt took one…

Nice work!

Thanks for organizing Kath!! We had an awesome time! Movies tomorrow?

You guys were close, but Rebecca from All Vegged Out guessed right!

I FINALLY got to try that Chia Fizz drink from my Clean Eating Mag that I’ve been drooling over for weeks!

I started with some fresh mint and lime that I got from the Farmer’s Market this past weekend (can’t wait to visit a new one this weekend!)

I muddled the lime and mint using the back of a spoon, since I didn’t have a muddler.

Some Trader Joe’s Organic Blue Agave Sweetener sweetened my drink.

Then, there were the chia seeds, of course!

Add some Pellegrino.

Let drink chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Add ice cubes and enjoy! Dee-licious and so refreshing! I love the way those little chia seeds soak whatever liquids you introduce them to and get all gelatinous! They remind me ever-so-slightly of the bubbles in bubble tea (a fave drink of mine).

I can’t wait to have another one of these…maybe I’ll make one up this weekend?

Btw, I’m going to pick up my Weekly Food Challenges again soon. I’m going to feature chia seeds in the next couple weeks, but I hear they’re hard to find, so go ahead and pick some up if you want to play along!