Brazilian Summertime!

Morning!!! :D Hope everyone had a great weekend! I definitely did!!!! We pretty much just hung out and watched past seasons of random TV shows, but it was fun! What did you do? 


So, even though it is getting colder stateside, summertime is just beginning here!!!!! And believe me, when you're only 9 degrees south of the equator, summer is hot. Anyway, because of this, I've been looking for some quick, no-bake snacks that I can also stick in the freezer to cool off! Some of them are not really recipes, like frozen bananas w/ pb or frozen yogurt. I have also been whipping up some random snacks to stick in the freezer. I've been making peanut butter protein bites by mixing a 1:1 ratio of my protein powder and peanut butter, like Lisa suggested the other day. I also made some mocha ice pops yesterday using this recipe. Finally, I slightly adapted Katie's oatmeal raisin larabar recipe from yesterday to make my own "mini larabars". I'm going to share that recipe with ya'll now!

Oatmeal Raisin "Larabar" Bites

Ingredients:

• 80g raisins (about 1/2 cup)
• 6 T oatmeal
• 40g roasted peanuts (mine were salted, so I didn't use any additional salt in the recipe)
• splash of vanilla extract
• dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place oatmeal in a food processor and process them until they are very finely shredded. 
2. Add in all of the other ingredients and process until comepletely combined. 
3. Take Larabar "dough" out of the food processor and shape into either 10-12 bite size pieces or 3 regular sized bars. 

I was sooo excited when I saw this recipe, because pretty much every other larabar-type recipe that I've seen calls for dates, which are really hard to find and really expensive here, for some reason. Another thing that's hard to find? Walnuts, which are called for in the original recipe. I was going to use cashews, but the grocery store didn't have any yesterday, so I rolled with peanuts. These are really yummy and I am definitely going to make them again! I usually just stick them in the freezer and take them out whenever I want a sweet treat! What are your favorite summertime snacks? 

I do have some sad news (for me). My gym contract has ended (can you believe that it has been six months already), so I made sure to get in an awesome workout yesterday! I did a circuit that contained both strength and cardio intervals, and really, really enjoyed it!!!!! 

Well, that's about it for today! :D See ya'll later!