Healthy & Light Berry Dessert Pizza For Your Memorial Day BBQ!

Not only are we celebrating a three day weekend; we are celebrating Memorial Day! This is one of my favorite weekends throughout the year. I love getting together for parties, friends, great weather, and great food! It brings back a lot of memories as a kid, spending time with the family.

Jeremy and I are grilling out and enjoying our last weekend down south before we head to the Detroit area next week. But don’t worry; we will be back! Tonight after our golf, we are heading to the grocery store to pick up groceries for: cauliflower mash, grilled salmon, grilled fish, avocado crescents, broccoli salad, homemade dressings, and fruit salad for this weekends grill out.

I wanted to share a fun recipe that we will also be having in honor of Memorial Day, healthy fruit pizza! I love fruit pizza. You can decorate it to match any holiday. Store bought fruit pizza is made from a sugar cookie, cream cheese, and cane sugar. I wanted to make a similar recipe but keep it light and guiltless. If you are having a hard time choosing a healthy dish to make for a Memorials Day bbq, I promise this one won’t let you down! 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! 

Fruit Pizza Ingredients

-One Box Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks (or one box square graham crackers)
-One Medium Banana
-One Tbsp Honey
-Six Ounces Vanilla Greek Yogurt
-Two Cups TruWhip (or light whip)
-Two Tbsp Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
-Diced Strawberries
-Blueberries

-Place grahams in a large bowl. Crush the grahams with a cup. You could use a blender or food processor, but don’t crush into a dirt consistency. You want the grahams to have a couple crunchy pieces left. It makes the crust so much crunchier and gives it a cookie texture. 

-Add the banana to the crushed graham crackers. Take your hands and combine the banana and grahams together. I left my electric mixer back in Chicago, but you can use yours if you don’t want to get your hands dirty. If you are using your hands, treat it like a meatloaf.-

-When the banana and graham crackers are combined, add the ball of dough to a greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flatten out the dough with your hands. Roll it out from center going outward. You can use your finger tips or a roller. 

-Fold the outer edges in and pinch the sides to form a crust. 

-Drizzle the honey over the crust and spread it around with a spoon. This will give the crust a nice crispy texture on the outside, but keeps a chewy texture on the inside. Just like a sugar cookie! 

-Place the crust in the oven. It will bake approximately 20 minutes, but every oven is different. Keep your eye on it. Don’t let the edges burn. They will be lightly brown and crispy. The center will be a lot softer, but it will harden as the crust cools off. Let it cool down on the baking sheet. If you try to move it before it cools, it will break in half like a chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven. 

-While the cookie cools down, prepare the toppings! 

-Combine the TruWhip and Greek yogurt together, and place it it the fridge to thicken. (20 minutes)

-I chose strawberries and blueberries for my fruit toppings because this weekend we are celebrating Memorials day. You can choose any toppings you’d like. Some other toppings that would be delicious : bananas, kiwi, grapes, raspberries, almonds, pecans, craisins, apples, pineapple etc. 

-Once the crust has cooled, add the whipped topping to the center of the crust and spread evenly. 

-You can decorate the pizza however you’d like. If you make these with kids, make mini ones. Each child could decorate their own. 

-I made circle patterns with strawberries, blueberries and coconut layers. 

I took the leftover fruit and used the whip topping as a dip! Don’t let anything go to waste. 

-For storing, place the fruit pizza in the refrigerator. The whipped topping with thicken up even more!

Cut the pizza into twelve slices. 

Per Slice (Recipe Makes 12 Slices)

Nutrition: 135 Calories, 4 g Fat, 22 g Carbs, 3 g Fiber, 10 g Sugar, 3 g Protein 

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Pre-Workout Breakfast: Protein Banana Berry Oats (Vegan)

This morning at 6 AM, I went for a long run along the trails.  I needed something that would keep me energized, full, and nourished. A mixture of carbs and protein always does the trick. The sunrise on the lake is gorgeous. It’s worth waking up early for. When I finished my run, I sat on the dock to cool down and watch the sunrise. 

For my  breakfast, I had a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and protein powder. I use a variety of protein powders, but Vega One is one of my favorites because it’s not only protein. It’s loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, Omega-3, antioxidants, probiotics and is 100% plant based. I would definitely recommend Vega if you are not a vegetable eater. It’s made from natural and whole food ingredients. 

If you don’t like berry, Vega One has other flavors. Chocolate would go great with the banana oatmeal as well. 

-Prepare 1/2 cup of Organic Oats in water.
-Slice up one small banana and top the oatmeal.
-Add one serving of Vega One berry protein shake powder. 
-Mix all ingredients together!

Another great thing about this breakfast?…it’s super quick to make! 

The flavors together, reminded me of a banana split, but in the oatmeal form! This breakfast had a whopping of 24 g of protein! 

Cinnamon Avocado Salad With Hummus & Cottage Cheese

After mixing it all up and taking my first bite, this is confirmed by far the best salad I have whipped up in a long time! I have cut back on a lot of my salads lately. I am addicted to green smoothies and getting my vegetable fix that way. I need to start making more salads. It’s the perfect season to take advantage of all the fresh produce. Salads are also more appetizing in the summer because of the hot weather. They cool you off and send tons of hydration back into your body. 

To make this salad, all you need is love…(I hope that song is stuck in your head for the rest of the night, muahahahaha) okay but seriously, all you need is: two cups salad greens, one cup fresh spinach, one large egg white,1 tsp ground cinnamon sprinkled on top, 1/4 of an avocado diced, 1/4 cup cottage cheese, two tbsp roasted red pepper hummus, and a serving of garlic croutons.

It’s that simple! 

No Gym Required, Outdoor Workout!

I take advantage of the summer weather. After spending most of the winter indoors, I can’t wait to throw on some shorts and dart out the door for a sweaty workout. Sometimes running can get repetitive,  so I like to switch it up every couple days. This morning, I wrote out a little workout on a piece of paper. It looked like the photo above, just less colorful and more scribbles.

Before the workout, I filled up a water bottle, applied sunscreen, and set a yoga mat on the driveway. The first set was fast, but I was already dripping in sweat. The second round was a struggle and I kept getting slower and slower as I did the workout. I eventually completed the workout in 35 minutes. Hopefully in a couple days, when I repeat the workout, I can get a better time! I use my Ipod on the runs for music and the clock on the Ipod to time my planks. 

Do you ever make your own workouts? I’d love to see some of yours! 

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Egg White Scramble W/ Zucchini, Bell Pepper, & Spinach!

Last week, I did a post-vacation cleanse to detox my body from all the unhealthy foods I ate. I started my day with a protein smoothie and a veggie egg white omelet. I love simple, filling, and healthy recipes and this is one of those. 

In a frying pan, saute one cup of zucchini slices, one cup red bell pepper strips, and one cup green bell pepper strips. After the veggies are sauteed, add them to a mixing bowl. Combine the veggies with two cups of fresh spinach and stir until the spinach starts to wilt. Stir in your favorite seasonings. I added one tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and one tsp onion powder. 

In a frying pan, scramble five egg whites with your vegetables until eggs are fully cooked. 

Nutrition for entire scramble:
198 Calories, 1.5 g Fat, 25 g Carbs, 8 g Fiber, 24 g Protein 

I get asked about my coffee a lot. I know there are tons of unhealthy creamers and sugar added to coffee. I am a coffee lover and wouldn’t dare give it up. I still keep my coffee healthy.  Sometimes I take it with unsweetened almond milk and Stevia or Ill take it with Whole Food’s 365 organic coffee creamer and a packet of Stevia.