Snack Week! - Fruit Dip

While I really hate being sick, I love the feeling of being well again. I’ve spent the last few days in a fever-induced haze, floating from home to work and back home again. Spending the evenings staring at the TV and eating ice cream. What? Ice cream is good sick food, there is calcium, protein and sugar. Everything a sick body needs. Plus it’s soft and a sore throat likes cold, soft food. Thankfully the haze has lifted and today I have been incredibly productive.


While sick, the dishes piled up in the sink and clothes lay strew across my apartment floor. If I lived with anyone else they would be disgusted with me, or they would have at least picked up after me. Maybe I should wait to be sick again until I move in with boyfriend. After a long, and productive, day at work I decided to clean it all up! Dishes, into the sink! Besides, they were starting to smell. Clothes, into the washing machine! Get rid of all of those sickness viruses. Ooo, I should wash the sheets while I’m feeling productive.

I’m healthy, almost, and ready to get back into the world! I’ve missed working out! It’s so hard to go for a run when your lung capacity is down to 50%! Lifting weights with sick muscles seems so much harder. But that all has changed! Bolstered by my week of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, I’m ready to hit the treadmill, rock my Bodypump bar and bust a move at Turbokick. Ready ready ready! I might be a little hyper from all this energy that got bottled up during my bout with the virus. Forgive me and have some fruit dip.

Snack Week! - Ham & Cheese Scones

There are good scones, and there are bad scones. I’ve been unfortunate enough to have had many, many bad scones. In the winter months in Madison, WI, the Dane county farmers market migrates inside. If you head to the beautiful Monona Terrace, overlooking lake Monona, you can still get local produce, fresh baked deliciousness and dog treats. Although I think it’s mean for them to sell dog treats, when dogs aren’t allowed at the farmers market. Such a tease for the pooches.

It was during one of these cold, wintry weekends that my parents came for a visit. As we’ve discussed before, winter is not the most desirable time of year to visit Madison. Unless you like ice fishing, apparently ice fishing on lake Mendota is amazing. So ice fishers, head to Madison. Back to the parents, I decided we should head to the farmers market, because there isn’t much else to do on a cold Madison Saturday. We stocked up on jams, carrots and cheese then picked up some pastries from the Amish table.

Nothing against the Amish table, I’ve had lots of their baked goods. The pies are amazing, the cookies are perfect, but these scones… let’s just say the dog would have loved them. They were dry and lacking flavor. I was so sad, we stopped at Starbucks and got some cookies. The Amish cart redeemed itself later in the summer with another knock-out pie.

So, while I’ve had some pretty amazing scones, they are so heavy and calorie laden that I try not to indulge that often. The average (delicious) scone from Starbucks has over 450 calories. More of a meal than a snack. Here I introduce a protein rich, lower calorie scone. It’s not filled with sugar and dried fruit, it’s filled with ham and cheese, yum.

Snack Week! - Granola Bars

Monday passed in a bit of a fever-induced haze. You know how it goes, you’re sitting at your desk, staring at the computer, then it’s an hour later and nothing has sunk in. My brain is boiling, or something like that. All I wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed, the lab is so cold! Or it’s the fever.

I’m so glad that I spent the weekend cooking and baking, because right now I have zero energy. I think that I’m running on negative energy, the world is pulling the energy right out of my body. I’m also jazzed that I decided to make these granola bars for snack week. They are chewy, delicious and filling. Adapt them according to what nuts and seeds that you like. I’ve made them with raisins and walnuts instead of craisins and soy nuts. I’ve drizzled them in chocolate on my more crazy days. I think that I’ll have one of these for lunch. Eating sounds like a lot of work today.