Diary of a Semi-Health Nut

ramblings + recipes of a semi-healthy nut

{WIAW #53} Just Add Good

by


Hello Friends!

This title works two ways.
One: Chobani’s catch phrase is “just add good” for their new baking with Chobani campaign.  I received a bunch of plain and vanilla Chobani greek yogurt to experiment with, and experimenting is what I’ve been doing.  Especially Friday.
Two: I had a grumpy morning ranting post, so this one will be a good/happy one!

So…Happy WIAW everyone! 
WIAW=What I Ate Wednesday.  It’s a fun (and HUGE) link-up party I participate in where I show either what I’ve been eating/drinking lately or take one recent day and go through the entirety of its food/drink.  (Okay I just checked and as of noon-ish today, there are about 165 posts linked up already!  People like to share what they eat apparently!)

So here are some of my typical eats at my new place (plus a couple of fun baking/cooking things):

{Breakfast} Peanutbutter toast with a dusting of cinnamon sugar.

I usually go for whole grain bread and Jif peanutbutter has been, and probably will be forever, my favorite choice for toast topping.
This has been accompanied by a delightful cup of java.

I seem to go through phases of coffee.  Since I have to buy my own diet dew now (I was so spoiled living with my dad!), I thought I’d enjoy some of the Keurig Keurig* cups Dave (the BF)’s mom got me.

So far my favorite K-Cup* has probably been the Kahlua one.

Love this quote!

Drinking some right now, in fact.  If you like Kahlua, you will love this one too!  I usually add a little Splenda* and a whole lot of Silk light vanilla since the Keurig seems to brew pretty strong for my taste.

Betty, Dave’s mom, also got me a little device for the Keurig that you can put plain, ground coffee (which I have a BUNCH of) into so that you don’t have to spend so much on the little K-cups.  Although sometimes convenience wins, I won’t be buying any more until I get a job here, ha!

{Lunch} Sandwiches galore. 

Lots of Subway since there is one close by and I’ve been kind of in a foodie rut…I haven’t really felt like I could make things in our kitchen yet.  I’m getting better though!

I also got a noteably tasty salad from Hy-Vee the other day with green cabbage, romaine lettuce, carrots, pumpkin seeds, green onion, tortilla strips, cilantro AND creamy cilantro dressing.  Refreshing and surprisingly filling!

Speaking of getting better with using my new kitchen….
{Dessert/Snack} Friday Dave came to see me since his work town is on the way to our “home” city.  My roomie was also having a friend stay over so we got to have a movie night.  I made some amazing banana cookies before he got here and upon arriving, he “sampled” four.

Roomie’s friend wondered if that was really called “sampling” or just eating, but I say that he was just sampling for my bloggy readers.  Taste-testing is an essential part in recipe making.

I made some changes to my Spiced Banana Muffin Top Cookies, and came up with a whole new, BETTER recipe.

Banana Chobani Cookies

by Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Keywords: bake breakfast dessert snack banana

Ingredients (24 cookies)
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 banana
  • 1/4 cup sunflower nuts, more to put on top if desired
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup vanilla Chobani greek yogurt
  • 1/4 tsp all spice
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Instructions
In a food processor, mix banana and butter together. Add egg, mix again. Add Chobani and mix a final time. (You can also do this by hand! Use a fork to mash the banana and stir the rest of the ingredients in.)
In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together with a fork.
Put wet ingredients into a mixing bowl and cream together with brown sugar.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients. Add 1/4 cup sunflower nuts. The consistency will be fairly sticky. You can drop spoon-fulls onto the baking sheet, they will just be irregularly shaped, or put the batter in the fridge for an hour to roll cookie dough balls. Sprinkle with sunflower nuts if desired.
Bake at 350F 8-10 minutes.
Full post: http://www.semihealthyblog.com/2013/01/wiaw-53-just-add-good/
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These turned out to be smooth, mildly sweet cookies that are almost like a chewy condensed muffin.  I think there are two left and they are getting eaten today!

{Dinner} We also made some Hamburger Helper, the Ranch Cheeseburger kind.  Depending on who you are, this would sound magnificent or uterly disgusting.  I grew up on the stuff so I found it delightful.

The lighting is super weird in the kitchen…I miss the daddio’s kitchen by the natural light!

We did, of course, put our own spin on it.  We used lean ground chicken and added frozen peppers in with the noodles to cook.  The box also called for mayonnaise, which I decided to replace with Chobani.  Why not?  It turned out creamy dreamy and full of flavor!  (This post is now linked up to Sprint 2 The Table’s “Strange but Good” link-up!)

I am also still drinking my bedtime tea, which is just green tea with honey that I drink at bedtime.  Yes, it has caffeine, but it still puts me right to sleep!

Aaand that’s my happy post!  Have a great Wednesday all!  I am off to figure out how to cure my many ailments!  (Thinking positively!!)

*~Amanda aka Semi-Health Nut~*


 What’s your favorite kind of coffee?
Have you ever baked with Chobani?

*I’m trying out Google affiliate ads, so the links with an asterisk are links to a place where you can buy that product, if you’re interested.  What can I say, I’m a poor college student looking for some extra money.  I DO use these products and would never write a post just to make money from the ads.  I value my readership (and my creative outlet) too much to sell out!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. LOVE baking with chobani! I made a mean berry bread the other day and used it for a nutella froyo!

  6. LOVE baking with chobani! I made a mean berry bread the other day and used it for a nutella froyo!

  7. I don’t drink coffee (but I love tea) and I haven’t baked with Chobani. But Subway is my go-to road trip meal, I love a toasted veggie sub for a simple delight!

  13. I don’t drink coffee (but I love tea) and I haven’t baked with Chobani. But Subway is my go-to road trip meal, I love a toasted veggie sub for a simple delight!

  15. I am SO glad you linked this up! I’ve never even had hamburger helper… but am a firm believer that greek makes everything good. 🙂

  16. Those cookies look awesome! I love cooking with Chobani! I use it instead of eggs in my brownies and they turn out soooo good!

  17. Those cookies look awesome! I love cooking with Chobani! I use it instead of eggs in my brownies and they turn out soooo good!

  19. Instead of eggs? I’ve never tried that before…only used it in place of the fat component!

  20. Yep! I looked up egg replacements when I ran out and they suggested 1/4 cup of yogurt as a replacement. It worked really well!

  21. Yum yum Chobani cookies! 🙂

    I had a K-Cup situation when they first came out, but it was never enough coffee for me. I did save money by buying the “make your own” cup and putting my own coffee into it.

    When I was home for Christmas, I rekindled my love for what some might call ‘trashy’ peanut butter, and I call nostalgic goodness!

  22. Yum yum Chobani cookies! 🙂

    I had a K-Cup situation when they first came out, but it was never enough coffee for me. I did save money by buying the “make your own” cup and putting my own coffee into it.

    When I was home for Christmas, I rekindled my love for what some might call ‘trashy’ peanut butter, and I call nostalgic goodness!

  23. hahaha who calls it trashy peanutbutter! Stop hanging out with those food snobs! 😉

  24. I am SO glad you linked this up! I’ve never even had hamburger helper… but am a firm believer that greek makes everything good. 🙂